The Rev. Jefferson R. Hulet

While working for the Los Angeles Police Department where he ran patrols, crime analysis and investigative operations and was responsible for IT, communications and technology implementations, Jefferson Hulet also took up the post of Distinguished Visiting Professor of Communication Systems Management at Ohio University. As he explains below, a move to the UK then prompted a career change, which would see him become an Episcopal parish priest in New Jersey and California. Now retired, he operates an organic vineyard and olive orchard in Napa Valley, California. He was elected to the Board of Regents in 2010.

First contact with HMC

In 1998, my wife was selected for an executive position with BT Cellnet and we moved to the UK. A close friend was doing her DPhil and introduced us to the then Principal Dr Ralph Waller. He explained what HMC was all about and it seemed a perfect opportunity for a career change. He arranged an interview with Professor Lesley Smith and her explanation of the tutorial system and the ethos of the college offered something I had been seeking for some time but had never found. Walking around the college and meeting several students I was struck by the sense of warmth and welcoming. I came up in 1999. 

Regents' achievement of which I am most proud 

When I was a student I was keenly aware of two distinct realities: the vision for the future, and the distance between where we were and that vision.  A common joke at the end of term was "See you in Hilary Term. If it's still here." Over the decades, the Regents have played a significant role in bringing the vision to reality: placing the college on a sound fiscal footing; the vast upgrades to the facilities, particularly the student accommodations; laying the groundwork for an expansion of the college; more than tripling the student population and the shift to a majority graduate student college; the ability to offer degrees in many more subjects; placing near the top of the Norrington league table ranking colleges' academic performance (we were a solid number 39 when I was a student, and I did my share to keep us there). The list goes on: there has been a marvellous transformation and throughout, the warm, caring ethos has been preserved.  

A message for students

Treasure your time here: it will be short. Study HMC Fellow Eric Eve's guide for handling the work. Live into it in the assurance that you will leave with the opportunity to change your world. Love one another.