{"id":3508,"date":"2021-11-09T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2025-02-13T12:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T17:58:04","slug":"a-former-assistant-u-s-attorneys-journey-to-an-ed-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/09\/a-former-assistant-u-s-attorneys-journey-to-an-ed-d\/","title":{"rendered":"A Former Assistant U.S.  Attorney\u2019s Journey to an Ed.D."},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column3508_0b049e-db > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3508_0b049e-db dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.kb-image3508_6677d7-07 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image3508_6677d7-07\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"384\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Sonya-Lawrence_0016_web-1-384x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-15962\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Sonya-Lawrence_0016_web-1-384x480.jpg 384w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Sonya-Lawrence_0016_web-1-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Sonya-Lawrence_0016_web-1.jpg 614w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><figcaption><em>Sonya Lawrence<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Beginning with a paper&nbsp;route as a teenager in her hometown of Amityville, New York (yes,&nbsp;<em>that<\/em>&nbsp;Amityville),&nbsp;Sonya Lawrence&nbsp;has held various jobs during a successful and still burgeoning career. As she recounts them during an interview for this story, it suddenly strikes her: \u201cIt seems like every one I ever went to was the greatest job ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps it wasn\u2019t the job itself that made it \u201cthe greatest\u201d so much as the enthusiasm, dedication, and competence Lawrence has brought to her duties as a nurse, lawyer, U.S. attorney, and now senior vice president and chief compliance officer for Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia. She has held the latter position since 2017, and her stellar reputation landed Lawrence on the cover of the February 2021 issue of Compliance Today, a monthly magazine published by the Health Care Compliance Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon after assuming her current title, Lawrence enrolled in Wilming-ton University\u2019s Organizational Leader-ship&nbsp;and Innovation doctoral degree program in the College of Education.&nbsp;\u201cOur organization at Jefferson was changing,\u201d she says. \u201cWe were&nbsp;acquiring hospitals, and attempting to&nbsp;lead some of the acquisition alignment and cultural integration we were trying to do was interesting, complex, and from my perspective, difficult. So I felt like I could use an education on how organizations function, how they improve engagement, and how the leaders of those organizations really drive change across the entity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mother of two, Lawrence was hoping to find a program that was relatively near her home in Bear, Delaware. On the recommendation of friends, she looked into the University\u2019s offerings. \u201cI applied, had my interview, had another interview with some people who were leading real organizations, and decided that this is a&nbsp;&nbsp;program that meets my needs, both professional and personal,\u201d she says. \u201cI had the option to do an online course, but I always want to be engaged with people in person if I can, so I opted for in-person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She hopes to receive her Ed.D. by the end of the year, but her studies have already delivered almost everything she wanted. She\u2019s especially impressed with the cohort aspect of the program. \u201cI commend Wilmington University for the cohort system they use. I think it really works. It is so well designed to align with your real-life experience, and because people come from all walks of life and all industries and all levels, you get a great perspective on what it means to be an employee or a president of an organization, and how to apply the things you are learning in those circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like many doctoral candidates, Lawrence has become close to those in her cohort. They are now in the dissertation phase of their work, but they previously met Fridays from 5 to 10 p.m. \u201cI have made some of the best connections and friendships,\u201d she says. \u201cWe provide each other with frank feedback, we hold each other accountable, we eat together, laugh together \u2014both inside and outside the classroom. I wouldn\u2019t trade knowing those 16 people for anything in the world. And as they finish their dissertations and get their doctorate&nbsp;degrees, I feel like every time someone&nbsp;finishes, I finish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After earning a degree in Nursing from Temple University and serving as president of her senior class in 1991, Lawrence worked five years as a cardiomyopathy nurse coordinator at Temple University Hospital. She then entered Temple Law School and became assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania before joining Jefferson in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her current position, Lawrence ensures that Jefferson complies with its outside regulatory and legal requirements as well as internal policies and bylaws. She says the key to a strong compliance program, like most other aspects of a successful organization, is leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think leaders need to communicate, demonstrate, and support all the values of that organization, and make sure that&nbsp;everyone understands what doing the right thing looks like, and understands that\u2019s what\u2019s expected. And they need to make sure that everyone has all the tools they need to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s my elevator speech,\u201d she adds, smiling. \u201cI go around Jefferson saying that, over and over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014Bob Yearick<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beginning with a paper&nbsp;route as a teenager in her hometown of Amityville, New York (yes,&nbsp;that&nbsp;Amityville),&nbsp;Sonya Lawrence&nbsp;has held various jobs during a successful and still burgeoning&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[78,626],"class_list":["post-3508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-magazine","tag-college-of-education-liberal-arts","tag-magazine-fall-2021"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":78,"label":"College of Education &amp; Liberal Arts"},{"value":626,"label":"Magazine Fall 2021"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Rachel Marchione","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rachel\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":78,"name":"College of Education &amp; Liberal Arts","slug":"college-of-education-liberal-arts","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":635,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":90,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":626,"name":"Magazine Fall 2021","slug":"magazine-fall-2021","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1183,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":23,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15964,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions\/15964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}