IDS-400 1-1 Discussion: What Is Your Understanding of Diversity? (Response post)

I am currently working toward my bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in organizational leadership. This is my last class. I truly cannot believe that I am here. It has been a long journey. To put things into perspective, I started my first semester in college in the fall of 1989. I stopped to get a bit of a break and found myself putting it off year after year. I was very blessed to have found a career at a major utility company in my state. I have been there for over 27 years now. I have been very successful, despite my lack of a degree, which validated my stalling even more. However, after my oldest daughter dropped out and my son following suit after 2 years in college, I was just heartbroken. I didn’t want them to make the same mistake as I had for all these years. Of course, it was hard to preach to them to finish what they started when I never did. So, I started back. A few months after I did, my oldest daughter decided she could do it also. She will be earning her master’s degree in March of 2025. I am so proud. My son has also started to bring himself back. So, I have to say I am doing this for them and for me.

When I consider the term diversity, I think of it in terms of an amalgam of genders, races, experiences, ages, and personalities that come together to create something better than the individual. Diversity has affected my daily life as an employee in a major utility company that does not have a history of diverse employment. When I look at historical pictures, my company consisted of white males in white shirts and black ties. In the field, they were white males in jeans and work boots. But, again, white males. In my experience, historically, the operations department in my utility company was male dominated. Women were employed in the operations department for exclusively clerical roles. Eventually, women started to infiltrate engineering but, to think of a female leader in operations was unheard of. Not only was Operations male dominated, but the sub-transmission / distribution dispatch control was male exclusive. To put this into perspective, the dispatch floor had a blue carpet, unlike the other areas of the building. There was a strictly enforced rule that no woman was allowed to step onto the blue carpet. Additionally, there was only a men’s restroom located in dispatch. In 2003, I was promoted to a Distribution Systems Operating Supervisor. I was responsible for the configuration of the Distribution circuits across the state. I performed switching in the substations via Scada controls and directed physical switching in the field. When I was hired, I became one of 4 women among 26 men. Not only did I encounter prejudices in the field when a lineman would refuse to take an order from me to derogatory comments from my co-workers. In my entire tenure in this department, they never bothered to make a woman’s restroom in the department. I spent 9 years of my career in dispatch and found it a very rewarding and challenging time in my life. I left that position to become an Electric Operations Supervisor in Operations. I oversaw the Electric Department in the Operating Center that covered a rather large territory in Illinois. I was promoted to this position in 2012 as the first women in this role in Decatur. Unfortunately, I am still the only woman that has held that position. It took many years to build my reputation and earn the respect of my peers. Thank goodness I am stubborn and don’t know how to give up! I am currently in the Labor Relations Department. This is the first clerical type position that I have held in the Company. I now serve as the subject matter expert on our 16 separate union contracts, conduct employee investigations, recommend discipline, handle grievances, and negotiate the contracts at term end.

All the best,

Theresa