Irma Wyman

Irma M. Wyman (born ~1927) was a systems thinking tutor and was the first female CIO of Honeywell.

Academic life

In 1945, Wyman was accepted into the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. It is not known, how large her freshman class was, but there were also six other women.

The dean told the class that only a third of the whole class would remain once graduation came about.Wyman graduated as Bachelor of Sciences/EM in 1949 with the rest of the lucky one third.

On 28 April 2007, Wyman received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

Career

Computing

When she graduated, the Cold War was in progress. Wyman took a research post, which required calculating guided missile trajectories. She is regarded as one of the first of civilian personnel having learned to use an "automatic computer."

After Honeywell Information Systems acquired her employer company, she moved to Minneapolis.

When Wyman retired, she was vice president of Honeywell Corporate Information Management (CIM).

Wyman supported research and planning as a thought leader in futures studies. As an aside to this, she did contend this to an interviewer in 1979, that :"it's just as important to know when to ignore all the careful planning and seize an opportunity."

Wyman has said that nothing in her education could have prepared her to be a computer engineer;
Computers had not yet been invented when she was in college.

[ [http://www.startribune.com/1761/story/30487.html Irma Wyman: Class of 1949] ]

Religion

Wyman now has a second career as archdeacon in the Minnesota Diocese of the Episcopal Church where she coaches servant leadership.

Quote

"We never get a second chance to make a first impression." (1983-1987):When sponsoring Honeywell's innovative Corporate Information Management Information Security Awareness Program (ISAP).

References

See also

* Women in computing

External links

* [http://www.engin.umich.edu/alumni/getinvolved/honoring/pastrecipients.html Previous Alumni Society Medal Recipients]
* [http://www.engin.umich.edu/students/support/wie/about/newsletters/spring2004.pdf Sesquicentennial Speaker Series] (PDF)

[Category:Living people