Jill Tietjen, Sandra Scanlon, and Kristy Schloss StoryCorps Interview, Clip 4, 2008

Posted April 5th, 2011 by teller
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Sandra Scanlon recalls that early in her career she was frequently mistaken for being an administrative assistant instead of an engineer and felt that her knowledge was tested more because she was a woman. She explains how she overcame those perceptions by ignoring these pressures and doing her job well. Jill Tietjen explains that during her first job at a power company she had to walk through a men’s locker room to get to the control room because the building designers had not considered that a woman would need access to the room. Kristy Schloss explains that women engineers earn their stripes by surviving these encounters and working to change negative perceptions of women engineers.

Tietjen is the president and CEO an electrical engineering consulting company. She is a Fellow and past president of the Society of Women Engineers and has received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award. Scanlon is the president of an engineering consulting firm. She is a Fellow of SWE and has received the Society’s Distinguished New Engineer and Entrepreneur awards. Kristy Schloss is the president and CEO of an environmental equipment design and manufacturing company. She is also SWE Fellow and a recipient of the Society’s Distinguished New Engineer and Entrepreneur awards.

This recording is Clip 4 of 4. Click on the "Tietjen / Scanlon / Schloss Interview" link above to find all clips from the interview. Click on the "2008 StoryCorps Interviews" link above to find all audio recordings from the 2008 SWE StoryCorps interviews.

This oral history interview was recorded November 7, 2008 at the Society of Women Engineers WE08 National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland as part of StoryCorps (www.storycorps.net), a nationwide initiative of Sound Portraits Productions to record and collect oral history interviews. This excerpt was selected and produced by the SWE Archivist. The excerpt may have been edited for length and clarity. Audio excerpts may be used for research and educational purposes only.