SUCCESS STORY | DR. CYNTHIA S. HIRTZEL Dean wants to engineer more opportunities

Giving back to the community has been a theme in Cynthia Hirtzel's life.
By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Cynthia S. Hirtzel believes that the world can be a better place. As dean of the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology at Youngstown State University, she'll start right there.
"I believe in the '70s bumper sticker 'Think Globally. Act Locally,'" Hirtzel said.
Since becoming dean in the summer of 2002, she has implemented this motto. She participated in the sixth annual Women in Science and Engineering Career Workshop. This event encourages young girls from grades six through 12 to choose career paths in science and technology.
She also believes that the university and local businesses need to have a symbiotic relationship.
"I'm a firm believer that a public institution has an obligation to its community to give back," Hirtzel said. "I've been working closely with companies to establish university/industry collaborations."
When Hirtzel was a child, girls were not encouraged to pursue careers in traditionally male-dominated fields. She wants to let young girls and women know that there is an opportunity for them in these jobs.
"I'm doing more with the schools to try and make teachers and guidance counselors aware of the fact that engineering is something that they should be encouraging their girls to go into, as well as their males," she said.
Continuing to learn
After receiving her bachelor's in mathematics from Washington University, she switched her career path to civil/environmental engineering and received her master's and doctorate from Northwestern University.
"I never even knew about the opportunity to become an engineer until I actually was in college," she said. "I decided when I went to graduate school that I wanted to do something a little more hands-on, that would make the world a better place. I thought that engineering would provide more of an opportunity for that."
Though Hirtzel did consulting work at various companies, she decided that she would rather have a career in an educational setting where she could continue to learn. Giving back to the community has been a theme of Hirtzel's life.
"At Northwestern, as a student, I taught in the summer in what they called the summer bridge programs," she said. "It was for underrepresented groups that had been accepted as freshman. Mostly these were first-generation students. It helped to bridge the gap between the transition from high school to college. It can be an overwhelming experience."
Challenges at YSU
Hirtzel came to Youngstown State University after her most recent positions as the dean of the College of Engineering at Temple University and several positions at State University of New York-Plattsburgh, including provost and vice president of academic affairs and interim dean of the School of Business and Economics. She is aware of the challenges of her position at YSU.
"Interests in technical areas, though they are needed more, ironically it seems to have declined over recent years," she said. "Attracting and keeping students is a challenge. Economic development in this region is a tremendous challenge. That's one of the reasons that I'm concentrating on university/industry collaborations -- to try and create and retain jobs in the regions -- but also to meet the needs of industry so that we can keep people here rather than making them go off to other places."
Measures of success
Though she has received numerous awards and honors in her career, Hirtzel has a different way of judging her success.
"The questions I ask myself are, 'Am I giving back? Am I doing enough? What else can I do to effect change? What can I do to make a difference?' On some days I feel that I am making a difference. On other days I feel very frustrated and I feel that I'm not," she said.
Her success is also shown by the relationships that she has established.
"I have hundreds of cards and e-mails from students over the years that said, 'Without you...' What I always tell them is, 'No, you earned the degree. If I helped, I'm pleased. If you want to repay that then go out and help two other people and ask each one of those two people to help two other people, and pretty soon, we'll have this huge network of people helping people,'" Hirtzel said.
As the first female dean of Youngstown State University's Rayen School of Engineering and Technology, she has achieved trailblazer and role-model status. Hirtzel doesn't consider herself a pioneer, but she does realize that there is a way to go for women to achieve equality in this field.
"In a way, engineering is the last frozen tundra," she said. "Science, except for physics, has become pretty much demographically represented. [In] professions such as medicine, law and other business, the barriers have been broken. In engineering that's simply not true for women or underrepresented groups. It's a long-term cultural change."