Enhancing Opportunities
A former legislator has created an endowment to provide support for the marketing departments commitment to enhancing its overall academic quality and reputation.
“My SDSU education was excellent. It opened my mind to a lot of different things and I just really appreciate that.”
Former California State Assembly Member Carol Bentley Ellis (’68), who earned a marketing degree from San Diego State College only to find she had limited access to a then-male dominated profession, has created an Endowment for Faculty Excellence in marketing at SDSU’s Fowler College of Business.
The combined pledge and planned gift commitment totals $250,000 toward the endowment, which will bear her name, and her pledge qualifies for a 1:1 match from Ron and Alexis Fowler.
As a student in the 1960s, Bentley Ellis was preparing for the career she would one day launch. Just not the one she planned.
Having switched her major from history to marketing, she noticed something beyond the course work that was different about her classes: She was frequently the only woman in them. “But I was very comfortable with it,” she said.
She dreamed of working in the marketing department of a large corporation and after graduating applied for many such positions only to be repeatedly rejected. Bentley Ellis recalls one interviewer admitting her company had quit hiring women in its management trainee program because, she was told, “they only work a couple of years and then leave to have children.”
“It wasn’t really the time for a degree in that field,” she said. So, being married and following her mother’s example, she became a volunteer, soon working with political campaigns.
From behind the scenes
Bentley Ellis established a reputation as a hard worker with a natural affinity for politics. She could interpret polls and develop successful strategies.
She managed campaigns and offices, always for others, until she was urged to lead her own campaign for the state Assembly’s 77th District in 1988. “That’s like stepping from behind the scenes right out into the public,” she said, “but I did it and I won.”
An advocate for crime victims, Bentley Ellis was elected as a Republican and became the minority whip her first year in office. Thanks to the experience she had gained as a volunteer, she became known as an effective legislator who could work with lawmakers of any political persuasion.
“I was a good cajoler,” Bentley Ellis said of her ability to broker compromises and earn the respect of her mostly male colleagues. “I realized right away you are not going to accomplish anything if you can’t get along with both sides of the aisle.” Did she ever feel slighted in the Assembly because of her gender? “No,” she said flatly. “I wouldn’t allow it. I think I had that kind of presence.”
“A new awakening”
Considering her legislative focus on the state’s criminal justice system, Gov. Pete Wilson appointed Bentley Ellis to the California Board of Prison Terms (now Parole Hearings) where for many years she traveled to prisons participating in hearings to determine prisoners’ eligibility for parole. She described being in the same room with some of the state’s most notorious criminals as “a whole new awakening.”
“I had nightmares my first year on the job because it was just horrible hearing the things that people would do,” she said. “It was just beyond comprehension.”
Eventually she adjusted and now views the experience as another chapter in a fascinating, if unexpected, professional journey. “I can certainly say I have had an interesting career and one where usually few women were involved,” she said.
The Carol Bentley Ellis Endowment for Faculty Excellence in Marketing is the legacy she will leave at the school where it started. The endowment will provide support for the marketing department’s commitment to enhancing its overall academic quality and reputation.
The fund will be used to help recruit, retain, and recognize outstanding faculty who are committed to excellence in research, scholarship, teaching, and program development and enhancement.
“I decided this is the way to join with others and really make a difference at the university,” she said. “My SDSU education was excellent. It opened my mind to a lot of different things and I just really appreciate that.”
