2021-22 BTC Calendar: Clair Blacketer

Looking back, Clair Blacketer (’10) says, “I don’t know if I would be where I am today without the Madison for Keeps scholarship I received 10 years ago.” In 2009, her father, diagnosed with a tumor on his spine, couldn’t work, and she knew the family couldn’t afford to help her finish her degree at JMU. But the emergency scholarship gave her the chance to return for her senior year and concentrate on her new passion, epidemiology. Today Blacketer is an international expert in health data quality, leading efforts to ensure that researchers and health officials worldwide have reliable evidence for decision-making so that vaccines can help bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end: “I feel like I can do something to contribute, and that feels really good.” Blacketer, also a doctoral candidate, helped champion the May 2020 Madison for Keeps scholarship drive, which raised more than $750,000 so 130 students could return to JMU for the 2020-21 academic year.