Scranton Alumna Dedicates Life to Optimistic Occupation

By Grace Whittam ’24

Martina Martin ’80 found a vocation and a lifetime of meaningful work in the global and local United Way system. She largely credits this vocation to the teachings and lessons she learned through The University of Scranton’s Socratic approach to education.

“If you can come out of the University and appreciate that Socratic approach early on, you’re much better off,” she said. “It’s so much better to use that ‘inquiry over advocacy’ approach.”

Martin, a Scranton native, began her education at the University in the fall of 1976, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1980. This was during Scranton’s initial years of coeducation, and Martin was a part of the University’s fourth graduating class of women.

Martin’s time at the University was marked by many noteworthy achievements and activities, including membership in the Jesuit Honors Program and the University Singers and being elected vice president of the Business Club. She commuted to campus and was the first member of her family to graduate college. Originally in pre-med, Martin found a better fit in business administration and marketing through a unique set of circumstances some might call “cura personalis.”

Through the Jesuit Honors Program, Martin was empowered to create a course that catered to what she wanted to learn, as long as she could find someone to teach it. When she expressed her desire to take an advertising course, she was directed to reach out to a local top advertising professional, Bill Donovan. Donovan agreed to teach and mentor Martin in a one-on-one advertising course if she agreed to help him start up his own public relations and advertising firm in Northeast Pennsylvania – and they did just that. Martin’s professional life started at Bill Donovan Communications during her third year at the University, and she continued on at that company for almost three years following graduation. Working for Donovan gave Martin a crash course in many different aspects of the communication, PR, advertising,  and marketing fields, and it paved the way to her future success.

“It was a wonderful way to be exposed to so many pieces of nonprofit, professional, and for-profit professions that I was positioned well for my next job,” she said.

Seeking to help others with her newfound skills, Martin began volunteering on the communications committee of United Way of Lackawanna County, which is the local member of United Way Worldwide, a global nonprofit organization serving 37 countries and territories. 

A few years later,  Martin became the director of communications and marketing at United Way of Wyoming Valley. She then committed 11 years as a senior manager at United Way Worldwide in Alexandra, Virginia, where she aided the efforts of United Way organizations and Fortune 500 companies across the country and beyond who were engaged in community philanthropy. Today, Martin is the senior vice president and COO of United Way of Central Maryland in Baltimore.

A central part of Martin’s work was to help visiting delegations from all corners of the world who were trying to export American concepts of philanthropy in ways that fit their governments and cultures. In that capacity, she has worked with people from the United Kingdom, Japan, China and many other nations. Martin believes these cultural exchanges result in beneficial outcomes for everyone involved.

“It’s makes for such a rich life to be with all different types of people,” she said.

A personal favorite part of her work is seeing the way people who would otherwise not interact with one another come together for the betterment of their community.

“Whether it be by race, gender, age, political orientation (or) sexual orientation, people who are otherwise sometimes fierce competitors come together because they care about their community,” Martin said. “That’s what United Way is all about.”

The United Way in Baltimore shifted its fundamental strategy in 2012 when it began focusing on directly incubating solutions to complex issues of poverty faced by low-wage earners known as  ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) who work hard but struggle to make ends meet. For example, the organization created family centers for teenage parents to help them complete high school while simultaneously providing care for their children. This became one of the most rewarding part of Martin’s work as the family center program, staffed by United Way employees, has bested the national average graduation rate for parenting teens by almost 30% .

“When I think about what’s most rewarding, we are always, as an organization, moving to the next intersection of where’s the need, and what can we bring to bear on it,” Martin said. “It allows you to stay with an organization for a very long time, because it’s never the same organization.”

Martin has been recognized for her work on numerous occasions. An O’Hara Award recipient, she was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women three times and received a Maryland Icon Award. Although she said she didn’t fully appreciate the University’s Socratic approach to education until the middle of her career, it’s clear that it aided her as she sought to produce better ideas and encourage inclusive thought. She emphasized the importance of seeking advice and inspiration from the people you look up to, and she encouraged all Scranton students to utilize Scranton’s alumni network to do just that.

“There are people at all stages of their career ready to hire Scranton grads,” she said. “Do not hesitate to use the wonderful network of Scranton alumni all over the world.”

In a world where change is seemingly the only constant, Martin’s life at United Way continues to grow and develop to meet the needs of the people she serves.

“It is not just a job,” she said. “It’s my vocation and avocation. That mission is so important, and that’s the thing that gets all of us through the days that are more heavy-duty.”