College classrooms are often too hot or too cold and sparsely decorated. Yet after spending much of her career in comfortable corporate boardrooms, Angela Mattie found she yearned to go back to school.

The assistant professor of management is beginning her fourth year as a full-time faculty member at Quinnipiac University. She spent the first part of her career in the private sector. “I made a mid-life career decision to follow my heart,” Mattie said.

Since 2003, Mattie has taken her substantial intellectual vigor into the classrooms of the same institution in which she earned an undergraduate degree.

Mattie traveled between leaving Quinnipiac as a student and returning as a professor. She earned a master’s degree in public health from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Mattie worked in healthcare while in the private sector. Her employment history includes the Connecticut Hospital Association, Anthem, Inc., and the Sisters of Providence Healthcare system.

Mattie said that a highlight of her career was working at Anthem Inc., where she earned a competitive fellowship to travel to Washington, D.C. and work on Capitol Hill. “It was an honor and a privilege because it’s a fairly prestigious fellowship,” she said. Mattie worked with the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, placing an emphasis on work for patient-safety legislation.

Eventually, her love for teaching drove her to accept a pay-cut and pursue a full-time teaching career at Quinnipiac.

“She made the switch because she enjoys teaching and she’s willing to give up the higher pay,” said Matthew Rafferty, an associate professor of economics and a colleague of Mattie’s.

Mattie’s courses allow her to draw on her professional experience. She said her research interests are health policy, healthcare compliance and healthcare law, and she often makes media appearances to discuss these issues.

She said the Athletic Board and Graduate Curriculum Committee are her primary service contributions. She is also actively participating in building a new master’s degree in health administration.

While Mattie claims to miss some aspects of the private sector, she is pleased to rid herself of the long hours and stress. She said that her colleagues, the creativity of teaching and more time with family are advantages of the world of academia.

“I’m just happy to teach, do my research and make a little difference in my students’ lives,” she said.