Engineers: Expanding Their Horizons

President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International Jim Gibbons wrote a piece for The Huffington Post, entitled “People with Disabilities Are an Asset to the Workplace.”

Gibbons graduated from Purdue University with a degree in industrial engineering. He was the first blind person to graduate with a master’s from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Read the full story for more on Mr. Gibbons, Goodwill Industries International, and helping people with disabilities.

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A Masters in Engineering Management (Mem) is profiled in a recent article from Financial Times. The Mem degree is “a cross between an advanced engineering programme and a general management course, for those who want careers at the intersection of technology and business.”

Dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, Dr. Joseph Helble (PA A ’82), says Mem programmes are “for engineering grads who know they don’t want to spend their entire careers in design or in a lab.”

Attaining a Mem degree is attractive to companies because the engineering graduate becomes well-rounded and capable of “evaluating the commercial potential of innovations in science and technology and also understand financial statements and budgets.”

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A former engineering superintendent is putting his energy and time into being a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity, Danville-Pittsylvania County (VA).

Jim Hamilton is 77 years-old, organizes and manages the Habitat warehouse, volunteered as a handyman for a domestic violence shelter, and helps with projects at his local church.

“It’s payback time.” Hamilton said. “I feel it’s real important to use whatever talent you got. You should use it to help other people.” Read more

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