{"id":100201,"date":"2020-09-09T12:51:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T17:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=100201"},"modified":"2020-09-21T13:48:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T18:48:01","slug":"alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna Gives First-Person Account of Journey to Engineering Career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Stacey and Judson Offner. Submitted photo<\/p><\/div>\n

I grew up in a rural farming community in Kentucky and wasn\u2019t planning to attend college since no one in my family had graduated high school. I was engaged to my high school boyfriend just after turning 17 years old and assumed I\u2019d get married and spend my time raising children, working a minimum wage job, and living paycheck to paycheck like the community members around me.<\/p>\n

I had not considered a life bigger than what was around me and I didn\u2019t have a way to pay for college, but two of my favorite teachers urged me to investigate loans and scholarships. Out of respect for them, I sent requests for college brochures to a handful of schools.<\/p>\n

I included Ole Miss<\/a> because my stepfather had once commented that Ole Miss had a good football team. That was really the only thing I\u2019d heard about the school. The brochures showed a beautiful campus, and I decided to apply because there was nothing to lose.<\/p>\n

I asked the Ole Miss counselor by phone, \u201cWhat\u2019s the hardest undergraduate major you offer?\u201d He said, \u201cChemical engineering.\u201d My logic was that a hard major would probably pay well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stacey and Judson Offner during their Ole Miss years. Submitted photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Using the old-fashioned career books in my high school guidance counselor\u2019s office, I looked up typical salaries for engineers and decided it would be worth taking out the loans. I successfully applied for an engineering scholarship and to the McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. With my college loans in hand, I broke off my engagement and packed up for Ole Miss in August 1996.<\/p>\n

Wonderful teachers in Ole Miss Engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ole Miss Engineering<\/a> prepared me for more than just a job \u2013 it prepared me for life. Like those two high school teachers, I had a very special teacher at Ole Miss who encouraged me when I was convinced that I could not succeed \u2013 Dr. John O\u2019Haver.<\/p>\n

Dr. O\u2019 never turned me away as I waited at his office door with questions before, after and between classes. In hindsight, I probably needed more support than the average engineering student, and it would have been within his rights to turn me away.<\/p>\n

There were so many things about life that I didn\u2019t know how to do like applying for grants, getting an internship, applying for jobs after graduation, preparing for job interviews. Dr. O\u2019 helped me plan a life that I could not previously envision. So when I say that teachers changed my life, I truly mean it. Thank you to all the wonderful teachers in the Ole Miss Engineering program \u2013 you are changing lives, one student at a time.<\/p>\n

Fulfilling career and family life<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could not have imagined the life I\u2019m living. I married my college sweetheart, Judson Offner (BBA 00), and we have two wonderful boys. We\u2019ve moved 13 times, lived in four international locations and traveled to more than 35 countries.<\/p>\n

I graduated from Ole Miss in 2000 and was hired by ExxonMobil. After five years with them, I moved to Chevron. My focus at work is in health, environment and safety. HES combines the best of all worlds \u2013 I feel good about developing safer and more environmentally friendly ways of extracting and delivering oil and gas around the globe.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve helped start up new business opportunities, supported a mega expansion project worth $45 billion, and I\u2019m helping my company exit the country of Indonesia after 95 years of operations. It\u2019s been a whirlwind of exciting adventures.<\/p>\n

Passionate about diversity and inclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a big believer in diversity and inclusion. I realized how differently my life would have been without those two high school teachers encouraging me. To solve the challenges of the future, we need ideas from people with varying life experiences.<\/p>\n

Much of my success is due to my ability to engage people doing the work in our oilfield \u2013 the people who have the solutions to many of our problems. But, because the policies and procedures are set at a higher level (mostly by engineers), the field workforce is rarely consulted, and we miss out on their ideas.<\/p>\n

The same applies to company hiring practices \u2013 if we recruit the same types of candidates from the same schools with the same degrees \u2013 we cannot find new solutions.  I\u2019m confident that hiring and engaging broader groups of people will lead to more creative and sustainable solutions. Being in a senior leadership role, I am proud to help guide our efforts toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in a rural farming community in Kentucky and wasn\u2019t planning to attend college since no one in my family had graduated high school. I was engaged to my high school boyfriend just after turning 17 years old and assumed I\u2019d get married and spend my time raising children, working a minimum wageRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1406,178],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlumna Gives First-Person Account of Journey to Engineering Career - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumna Gives First-Person Account of Journey to Engineering Career - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I grew up in a rural farming community in Kentucky and wasn\u2019t planning to attend college since no one in my family had graduated high school. I was engaged to my high school boyfriend just after turning 17 years old and assumed I\u2019d get married and spend my time raising children, working a minimum wageRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-09T17:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-21T18:48:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/judson-and-stacey-pic-168x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/judson-and-stacey-pic-168x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/\",\"name\":\"Alumna Gives First-Person Account of Journey to Engineering Career - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-09T17:51:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-21T18:48:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/alumna-gives-first-person-account-of-journey-to-engineering-career\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\",\"name\":\"esmith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47640a561d7e19d1e29d52a4797cff04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"esmith\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100201"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100494,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100201\/revisions\/100494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}