{"id":144102,"date":"2024-10-21T13:16:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T18:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=144102"},"modified":"2024-10-21T13:16:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T18:16:56","slug":"university-of-mississippi-engineering-alumni-kick-off-schools-countdown-to-125th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/university-of-mississippi-engineering-alumni-kick-off-schools-countdown-to-125th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Mississippi Engineering Alumni Kick Off School’s Countdown to 125th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ole Miss welcomes engineering alumni to share insights, career journeys<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The male-dominated classes, dress code requirements and dorm curfews could not derail Barbara Beckmann<\/strong> from becoming the first female graduate of the\u00a0University of Mississippi<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0School of Engineering<\/strong> in 1961.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You had to stay on campus and the girls’ dorms closed at 8:30,” said Beckmann, a senior economic adviser at ExxonMobil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When we had group work to do and there was something that the rest of my group wanted to discuss late in the evening, it would have to be a telephone call from one of the community dorm phones.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beckmann, ExxonMobil’s first female engineer and longest-serving employee, returned to her alma mater October 17, 2024, as an alumni panelist for the Ole Miss<\/strong>\u00a0engineering school’s<\/a>\u00a0125th anniversary kickoff event inside Paul B. Johnson Commons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My education at Ole Miss was superior,” the chemical engineering graduate said. “Primarily because it was focused on basic principles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From founding the first Chi Epsilon<\/strong> civil engineering honor society chapter in the Southeast in 1937 to expanding the accredited undergraduate and graduate\u00a0academic programs<\/a>\u00a0offered, the school has marked numerous\u00a0milestones<\/a>\u00a0since its start in 1900.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why the anniversary celebrations began nearly a year early, said Viola L. Acoff<\/strong>, dean of the school and the first female and first African American to earn the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What better way to kick things off than to highlight the whole reason we are here, which is producing engineers,” Acoff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panelist Bill Parsons,<\/strong> who graduated with a degree in general engineering in 1979, personifies the school’s alumni success, specifically in engineering management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 22 years working for NASA<\/strong>, Parsons served as chief engineer and center director at\u00a0Stennis Space Center<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in Hancock County<\/strong>. He’s also served in leadership positions at\u00a0Kennedy<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Johnson<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>space centers, playing pivotal roles in returning the space shuttle to flight in 2005 after its\u00a0deadly disaster<\/a>\u00a0two years before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They asked me to move from Mississippi back to Houston to take over the shuttle program,” Parsons said. “I could either put the space shuttle in a museum and never fly it again, or I could return it to flight, finish the International Space Station, allow us to go back to the moon and later to Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we had shut the shuttle down, we would not have completed the space station, may have shut the program down, may not have had a vision to go back to the moon and so on and so forth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vice president of space technology systems and civil space with\u00a0Peraton<\/a>, he oversees everything from high-altitude NASA balloons flying over Antarctica <\/strong>to Department of Defense<\/strong> and military rockets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reminded students that an Ole Miss engineering education leads to countless career paths, so he encouraged them to explore co-op and internship opportunities to better discover what’s right for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The chief engineer, he’s the smartest guy in the room, that’s for sure,” Parsons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m not the chief engineer, but I’m a pretty damn good at making hard decisions based on data and facts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students, faculty, staff and alumni also heard advice and insights from panelists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n