SHPE - Conference 2007 - (Page 85)

STAR National Honors Jaime Oaxaca Award hristella Chavez grew up with her brother and two sisters in rural areas of northern New Mexico. Raised by her maternal grandmother, she spent most of her years in a very small town with about a 99 percent Hispanic population. In high school, she excelled in mathematics and science and participated in engineering programs at Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Institute of Mining Technology. By the time she was a senior at Pecos High School, she was convinced that she wanted to pursue a technical career; and when a West Point recruiter offered her a full scholarship and presented military service as a way to attend college and serve her country, Chavez found the path to achieving her dreams. Upon graduating in 1989 from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a B.S. in general engineering and political science, Chavez entered active duty as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Military Police Corps. Chavez traveled the globe and all around the United States during her active duty, being stationed in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Colorado, Panama, Germany and Bosnia. Today, she continues her 18-year career in military service as a major in the U.S. Army Reserves. In 1995, Chavez left active duty to pursue a career in semiconductor manufacturing with Texas Instruments and the Raytheon Corporation. It was while leading Raytheon’s Hispanic Employee Initiative in Texas that she was first introduced to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Immediately, she recognized a new opportunity to serve her community and remedy one of her greatest frustrations: the stigma of low expectations for Hispanics. When she joined Visteon Glass Division of the Ford Motor Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1998, the closest SHPE professional chapter was in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Fortunately, she found others in the community who shared her desire to influence a change in expectations for Hispanics. Together they established the Oklahoma SHPE Professional Chapter in 2000, with Chavez as founding president. The chapter quickly became involved with mentoring Spanish-speaking elementary school children and volunteering at an engineering build competition for middle and high school students. SHPE-OK also launched student chapters at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Community College and the University of Tulsa as well as co-hosted the 2004 Midwest Expo. After five years in Tulsa, Chavez earned a promotion that relocated her to Nashville, “I AM EXTREMELY HONORED Tennessee, in 2003. Once again, she found it necessary to organize Hispanic leaders, startto receive SHPE’s Jaime Oaxaca ing a new professional chapter in Middle Tennessee which was officially recognized in Award. I am grateful to those that mentored me: my family, my teachers 2005. With Chavez as founding president, SHPE-Mid TN supported the student chapter at Vanderbilt University and launched another at Tennessee Technological University in 2007. and professors, my coaches, my Since 1998, Chavez has held positions of increasing responsibility with Visteon and now military leaders, my managers, business professionals and technical professionals ACH, including production supervisor, quality engineer, senior sales coordinator, manufacturing superintendent and materials and planning logistics superintendent. After a four-year who have shown me the path to success. It’s only right that we provide stint in Nashville, she recently returned to the Tulsa plant with a new promotion. that same assistance to others so that Chavez has remained a staunch supporter of diversity initiatives. In addition to SHPE, they can also achieve their goals. she has served on the board of directors for the Visteon Employee Resource Group, Imagine how great our world would Women in Visteon. She also served on the Hispanic American Foundation, the Greater be if we could all reach our potential? Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (vice chair), YWCA of Tulsa and Society of If a young lady from Pecos, New Women Engineers. Also, she has volunteered in Engineering a Future (an engineering Mexico, with a modest upbringing awareness program for junior high girls in Tennessee), Executive Women International, can do it, then anybody can.” the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the United Way. Her dedication was recognized with SHPE Region V’s most prestigious Father Hidalgo Leadership Award in 2003. That same year, Visteon honored Chavez as one of its first Leading the Way Award recipients in acknowledgment of her exemplary performance that went above and beyond expectations and produced significant results for the company. Her greatest desire, she says, is setting a positive example for her two teenage boys, Randall and Colton. “Being a single mother has been my greatest challenge thus far,” Chavez said, “however, I have high expectations for my children and encourage them to excel in school, especially in math, science and engineering.” The Jaime Oaxaca Award recognizes the recipient’s unselfish and outstanding contributions in the fields of engineering and science as well as in the community and acknowledges her unwavering dedication and commitment to the Society’s advancement. The very nature of the honoree’s activities, carried on continuously over a period of years, brings honor and esteem to the Society. Furthermore, the honoree symbolizes, as does the award’s namesake, the ideal role model for Hispanic youths by preaching aloud, “It can be done.” www.SHPE.org R Conference 2007 Walt Beazley, University of Tulsa C Christella J. Chavez Visteon/Automotive Components Holding, LLC 85 http://www.SHPE.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SHPE - Conference 2007

SHPE - Conference 2007 Contents President’s Letter From the Vice President Calendar Browser The Top 10 Interview Questions A Federal Case for Education Reform Managing in the Multi-Generational Work Force Ahead of Their Times: An Engineering Progression The Place to Innovate Management Growth Training Executive LeaderSHPE Institute Programs & Services Welcome Letters Highlights Conference Schedule STAR Awards Company of the Year Professional Adelante and Student Chapter Awards Speakers Professional Development Strategy SHPE Academic Olympiad AHETEMS Design Competition Morgan Stanley Web Coding Competition The Ultimate SHPE Challenge Technical Paper Competition Pre-College Symposia Graduate Program Tours Hospitality Suites Advisors Workshop Quick Guide Workshop Descriptions Sponsors and Career Fair Exhibitors Hotel and Convention Center Maps IPC Update Regional Roundup Advertisers Index Inner Circle Employer Profiles

SHPE - Conference 2007

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