Heather Yates

When I was young I always liked putting things together and taking them apart to see how they worked. In the seventh grade I had the highest fundraiser sales and won a big metal gumball machine like you would find in an old drugstore.  I had it for about a week, and figured out how to rig it so I did not have to put any money in to get the gumballs; needless to say my parents paid for my curiosity at the dentist’s office!

When I was in High School, I enjoyed science and math classes, and teaching other students.  My mother, who had multiple education degrees, told me that she would not pay for college if I went into education because she thought I was too smart to be a school teacher; so I decided to pursue engineering when I continued my education at Oklahoma State University.  It took two years of engineering preparatory classes, and two different majors for me to realize that engineering was too theoretical for my practical mind. 

I took a summer construction job on a highway paving construction crew because I thought $7.50 was a lot of money for a 19 year old to make at a summer job.  It was a long hot summer to swing a sledge hammer day after day on the stringline crew, but I worked with really nice people that knew I would do great things someday.  (The stringline crew sets the line that all of the sub-grade and paving equipment follows to construct the roadway.)

When I went back to OSU in the Fall, I approached school differently, I had found my passion.  I changed my major to Construction Management Technology and was able to apply my summer experience to the coursework and loved it!  I graduated two and a half years later, and went back to work for the company who helped me find my passion.  About a month after I graduated, I told my husband, that when I was old, I wanted to go back to OSU and teach in the CMT department.  I worked for the Concrete Paving Company for two years when I had a longing to go back to school and get my masters degree.

I took masters classes at Pittsburg State University in Southeast Kansas while I worked full-time for a national infrastructure design and inspection firm.  I also taught a night class at Pitt State that focused on Soil and Concrete Testing.  It was a great fit, I ran a Soils and Concrete Testing Lab all day, and then taught students about the same topics in the evening!  I loved bringing real-world examples into the classroom.  When I graduated with my master’s degree in Engineering Technology, I was asked to apply for a full-time teaching position at Pitt State.  I ended up teaching there full-time for 4 years, and each summer I went back to the Testing and Inspection, for more experience to add to my lectures. 

While I taught a Pittsburg State I also continued my education, graduating with an Education Specialist degree in Higher Education.  I really enjoyed learning about the different faucets of the higher education system, and the teaching techniques that I intuitively did in the classroom, but never knew that there was a name for them. 

Being a female in the construction industry is sometimes difficult, but I learned really fast that if you just make suggestions, and let the guys think that it is their idea and not yours, you get your way most of the time.  I also learned that since there are only a few females and lots of males, everyone typically knows who you are, so be ready to work hard.  Hard work is something that is recognized whether you are male or female, so give it all you have got!

The last bit of advice is to follow your passion, and it will lead you to fulfilling your dreams.  I was given the gift of teaching, but was steered away from it at first.  My grandmother on my mom’s side always reminds me what my mother told me about not going into education; and how she thinks it is so funny that I defied my mother’s orders and am a professor now.  So I am not sure if I am old, or just accomplish career goals early.  I have a hard time thinking I am old, but I did get the job that I labeled as my “Dream Job”, and I love it!