Kathy Haselmaier ‘84
Bachelor of Science
Hewlett-Packard and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
Retired, Technical Marketing and Business Operations
What is your fondest memory of your time in the CS department?
I remember writing a program that would balance a checkbook and thinking, “I’m pretty good at this!” After that, things got a lot harder. 😊 I also remember having really interesting discussions in a class called Technical Ethics (or something similar) taught by Dr. Ott. It got me to thinking about problems I’d never considered up to that point. Most of my friends were majoring in engineering, so I didn’t know a lot of CS students, but I made two good CS friends when the three of us completed a co-op at Sperry Univac in Roseville, MN, over two quarters in 1984.
How has your education impacted your career?
My education taught me that I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I am smart enough to do well if I work really hard. I knew that persevering at Michigan Tech had paid off for me, so I assumed it would be the same in the workplace. (It was. 😊 )
Michigan Tech provided an environment where I felt like I fit in; i.e. I was with “my people.” The expectations people had for me, even my roommates, were higher than any I’d encountered up to that point, and I tried to live up to those expectations. Also, through my work with the Michigan Tech Student Foundation (MTSF), I learned a lot of “soft skills” that served me well in my career and even helped to guide my career. The bottom line is that I was learning in and outside the classroom. My time at Michigan Tech was very formative. I made great friends that I’m still in contact with today.
Kathy is a member of the Presidential Council of Alumnae (PCA). She participates in the CS1000 Alumni Assignment project where alumni correspond with first-year computer science students and answer questions they have about the school, the program, the industry, or just life in general at Michigan Tech.