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Hand a person just one little piece of paper many refer to as the “pink slip,” and one has the choice to respond to this action with a positive or negative attitude. Often their point of view will choose their course and future destination. Although it’s perfectly natural to react to loosing a job with feelings of despair and fears of the unknown, many psychologists and outsource/recruiting companies recommend limiting that grieving period to only a few days. Roy Allen decided that positive thoughts were more productive. Eight years ago the British Petroleum Company (BP) cut back and laid-off their workforce. Allen was working as a geologist for BP in Alaska when they offered him an opportunity to relocate to another state or leave the company.

“I was recently married, my wife and I love Alaska. Although I was enjoying working in the field of geology, there was no way I was going to move to Houston, Texas. However, that option meant I would no longer have a job,” expressed Allen.

Allen began reassessing his career and his skills and discovered that when he was working as a manager of quality initiatives for BP, the most enjoyable part of the job for him was working with and managing people. The next challenge was to find a career that valued science and engineering, and combined that background with the social skills of managing people. Industrial and systems engineering was Allen’s answer. However, he needed a graduate degree to qualify for the upper level jobs offered in that field.

“I researched every college and university in the state of Alaska and there wasn’t one that offered an industrial and systems engineering program,” recalled Allen. “Those negative thoughts started creeping up on me and I started to feel pretty hopeless with the thought of having to move away from Alaska to go to school, when I could have just saved myself the time and money when the company wanted to relocate me with a job to Houston.”

Allen began questioning his fate of living in Alaska by asking how he could close the gap between distance and studying for a graduate level education. Allen isn’t a stranger to distance and the challenges it poses. Overcoming these kinds of obstacles is a way of life in Alaska, because roads are few and far between, residents regularly fly over the rugged terrain. In fact, Alaska has more small-engine airplanes per capita than any other state.

“My dilemma became an opportunity when I put the two words together ‘distance education’ and began researching online the universities that offered IE degrees through this medium,” expressed Allen. “That’s when I found the Bagley College of Engineering’s Master Engineer program.”

Allen graduated from Mississippi State in 2001 with a master of science degree in industrial and systems engineering. Today, he works as the director of collection and operations for Alaska’s blood bank in Anchorage.

“The BCoE helped me transform my life into more enjoyable and meaningful work,” smiled Allen. “I still deal with the issues of distance. I’m responsible for making sure that 29 hospitals have the staffing and blood supply they need to save lives. Sometimes that is a little bit of a challenge when two of those hospitals we service actually span a distance equivalent to the width of the United States, so logistics certainly are again playing a role in my life.”

For more information about the BCoE’s Master Engineer program, please contact Rita Burrell at rburrell@bagley.msstate.edu or 662-325-5923.