THE AWARD GOES TO... Eight outstanding alumni and one longtime employee of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering were honored during a virtual ceremony in September by the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council for their distinguished professional careers. These alumni include five who were recognized as Distinguished Auburn Engineers, three as Outstanding Young Auburn Engineers and the college’s former director of communications and marketing for his Superior Service.
Distinguished Auburn Engineers
Consulting, Celerant Consulting, Ernst & Young, Dell and Eli Lilly and Company. Evans is a member of the Auburn University Foundation’s Board of Directors, serving on the development committee and as vice chair of the directorship committee. She is also a member of Auburn’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity Alumni Advisory Council and the First Coast Auburn Club.
Sharlene Evans, ’86 Industrial Engineering Sharlene Reed Evans graduated from Auburn in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. She also earned a master’s in the same discipline from Purdue University in 1990. Evans is currently the Chief People Officer for Myrtle Consulting Group; in this role, she leads the internal people function for the firm and leverages her expertise in organizational strategy, design and change management in support of major business improvement and change initiatives for Myrtle’s clients. She has more than 25 years of global business leadership experience in consulting, and has influenced and shaped some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Kellogg’s, Shell, and Ford. Prior to her time at Myrtle, Evans worked with SSA & Company, Hitachi
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During her time as an Auburn student, she was a member and president of the Tigerettes and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association and a member of Auburn’s Petrie Society.
Nelda Lee, ’69 Aerospace Engineering Nelda Lee graduated from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1969, and earned a master’s degree in management and human resources development at
SAMUEL GINN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Webster University in 1999. Lee began her career as an associate engineer at Heritage McDonnell Douglas Corp., where she became the first woman in flight test engineering at the company. She worked her way from associate engineer to a senior manager position in charge of Boeing Test and Evaluation in St Louis. Lee retired from Boeing in 2014 after a distinguished 45-year career. In addition to her professional achievements, she is a founding member of Auburn Engineering’s 100+ Women Strong Program, where she also serves in an emeritus role on the executive committee, and is an emeritus member on the College of Business Aviation Management Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Auburn University Alumni Marching Band. Lee received the Department of Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Alumna award in 1996 and the Woman of Distinction award from the Auburn Alumni Association in 2014. She was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2016 and received the Auburn University Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She was inducted in the Women in Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2004. She previously established the Nelda K. Lee Endowed Scholarship in the Department of Aerospace Engineering
