Mortar Board Week

Gail Harrison Corvette was tapped and initiated into Mortar Board at The Ohio State University in 1980 and served as Chapter President. Following graduation with a B.A. in Journalism (after serving as Staff Writer for the Ohio State Alumni Magazine), she moved to Chicago and served as Section Coordinator for Illinois. She was elected to the National Council as National Director of Communications and edited the Mortar Board Forum. Shortly following her tenure on the Council, she served as a Trustee and ultimately President of the National Foundation, spearheading the Foundation’s efforts for a successful “Million for the Millennium” campaign. She retired from Mortar Board in 2001 and established the Gail Harrison Corvette Leadership Fund, the first endowed fund in Mortar Board to support leadership. She is a Charter Member of the Alumni Association and the Passing the Torch Society as well as a consistent donor throughout the years. She had no intention of getting involved again as a volunteer for Mortar Board, but was asked to donate to the CentCam and began to get up to speed on Mortar Board’s current needs and challenges. When asked to consider the role of National President, she was surprised and honored. She served as President-Elect, National President, and Past President from 2017-2023.

The lessons she learned as a leader of leaders in Mortar Board served her well throughout her life (so far). She enjoyed a 25-year career in the field of human resources consulting, first as a communication consultant, then in business development, client relationship management, Eastern US team leader and Asia-Pacific regional leader for sales and marketing. Her career took her to the Chicago area, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York and Hong Kong. She retired from her career at age 49 and moved to her husband’s hometown of Charleston SC where she is pursuing her passion for serving others (also cultivated in Mortar Board) by teaching yoga. She has the privilege to serve diverse populations such as recovering alcoholics/addicts, autistic adults, disabled patients, Parkinson’s patients, elderly students, county employees, medical students and professional and members of the public and even the Citadel football team. She recorded three yoga videos on the Yoga Vibes app for Mortar Board members.

In addition to Mortar Board, she has served as a Trustee on the Tri Delta National Foundation Board, Charleston Symphony Orchestra League Board, Brooklyn Philharmonic Board, Chair of a Symphony Silent Auction, Vice President of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus, several offices including President of her P.E.O. Chapter, Secretary of the Taylor Music Group Board, member of the Community Advisory Board for the Charleston Center (the county-run drug and alcohol rehab facility), as a chair person for the Witness Committee (new member outreach) at her church, and as head of the Nominating Committee for the Anusara School of Hatha Yoga when it was establishing a 501(c)(3) organizational structure.

Currently, she is in her third term as President of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League, the largest institutional donor to the Charleston Symphony and a major funder of music scholarships, and is State Vice President for P.E.IO., a women’s organization that supports higher education for women.