Alumni Spotlight: Carlton Lawson
Alumni Spotlight — Carlton Lawson, M.P.A. ’17 — Aviation Administration; College of Liberal Arts
Sometimes it pays to be practical. For Mount Carmel, Ill native, Carlton Lawson, MPA ’17, that meant pursuing a Master’s of Public Administration Degree with a concentration in Aviation Administration at SIU Carbondale, which led to him landing his dream job as an Airport Operations Specialist at the brand-new Paine Field/Snohomish County Airport in Everett, Wash.
Lawson had completed a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Northeastern Illinois College, served more than three years in the Civil Air Patrol, and was considering law school when he changed paths. SIU Carbondale was on his radar partially because his dad, Carl Lawson, Sr., earned his Ph.D. in Special Education and Administration here in 1991, but primarily because of our Graduate Aviation Management Program.
“I came to SIU Carbondale specifically because the Masters of Public Administration Program offers a concentration in Aviation Administration. When I was deciding on a thesis topic, my thesis chair, Dr. Burnside suggested that I make it be something that’s “practical and something that leaders in aviation such as airport managers can actually use, and I followed his suggestion and it worked out in the best way possible,” Lawson said.
While in the Civil Air Patrol, he completed the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center Basic Inland Search and Rescue Course, received a National Emergency Services Academy Mission Aircrew School search and rescue flight navigator/mission observer rating, and trained for and received numerous emergency management certifications.
“I’ve always been public service minded, and I was really attracted to working with emergency management, so the Civil Air Patrol allowed me to gain the skills I would need to pursue a career in that field,” Lawson said.
While at SIU Carbondale, Lawson said he lived a fairly normal graduate student life. He attended the occasional Football game, and met friends at Global Gourmet and the Newell House in Downtown Carbondale, but mostly, he worked.
“My graduate research assistantship had me working for the Office of the Chancellor which involved coordinating and attending meetings, events and presentations among other things, plus was President of the Public Administration Student Organization and I had my course work, so I stayed pretty busy,” Lawson said.
Immediately after defending his thesis, Lawson headed to the west coast, specifically the Seattle Metropolitan area,
“I went out there in August of 2015 and landed a non-aviation job in property management just to have employment while I looked for a job in my field. Washington State has a very large presence for aviation, as well as a large regional and national and international influence in terms of aviation in general, so I knew it was an area that would be able to sustain my career, and I have not been disappointed,” Lawson said.
Lawson said he the first job he found in the aviation industry was working as an aircraft rescue firefighter at an airport north of Seattle.
“What I can say about that job is that the firefighting people are familiar with is a lot more glamorous on TV than it is in the day to day operations. Still it is an amazing job. Thankfully, most of the calls we had were medical — people who were sick on airplanes and that kind of thing, not large fires” Lawson said.
During that time Lawson continued to keep his eyes open for his next career move, and that vigilance paid off — while attending an continuing education course for advanced airport operations and safety, he struck up a conversation with another firefighter who told him that there was a new passenger terminal opening at the Paine Field Airport in Everett, WA, and that they would soon be hiring.
“I knew about Paine Field Airport, and I knew that their new passenger terminal was supposed to be the next big thing in aviation, and I wanted to be a part of that,” Lawson said.
Pain Field was built in 1936 by the Works Project Administration and began commercial service in 1939 before spending decades as an Air Force base. After the Korean War, the airfield was selected by Boeing as the site of its Everett assembly plant and grew into a hub for light aviation and manufacturing, but lacked a commercial hub.
The new terminal was built in partnership between Snohomish County and New York-based Propeller Investments. This makes it the first U.S. based airport terminal not owned and operated by the government. Propeller financed the terminal construction, found tenants Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, and leases the land from the airport.
And, after following the job lead and interviewing with Snohomish County, in April of 2018 Lawson joined the team as an Airport Operations Specialist.
“It’s kind of my dream job. I’ve only been here about a year from the top down I work with an amazing team of people in a really empowering and challenging environment. According to the CEO of Propeller, the idea behind the terminal was to bring civility back to flying. And we see that every day. Everything is oriented for the customer’s convenience,” Lawson said.
As to his daily tasks, Lawson’s job is extensive. When he was first hired he was tasked to design the emergency management and irregular operations plans for the airport leading up to the launch of the airport, which meant he was heavily involved with working with multiple stakeholders and consultants on planning for emergency evacuation procedures and an emergency response plan for regular operations.
“So we manage all those systems and policies I helped put in place. On top of that we are all instructors for all the different courses to get people certified to be qualified to operate on the airfield. So we teach ground vehicle training and security courses and things like that” Lawson continued.
And on top of all that, Lawson and his team basically manage the entire airfield, including construction projects, safety and security, and snow operations.
“So we’re kind of jack of all trades, but we do have to be proficient ambassadors of all of it. It’s definitely not a 9 to 5 job,” Lawson said.
Lawson said his next step is to continue to try to bring the newest trends in aviation to the Paine Field. His next big project will be to take his thesis and design and implement a Safety Management System program for the airport.
“Whether it’s the business, safety, or security, I want to keep us on the cutting edge in terms of being the best airport in the country,” Lawson said.
In his spare time, you can find Lawson hosting his podcast, “The Rotorhead Podcast,” doing CrossFit, hanging out with friends, or hiking in the beautiful mountain ranges in the region.
