I’m a Bennie

ALISON HOXIE ’99

WHEN EVERYONE’S AT THE TABLE

“I knew when I entered Saint Ben’s I likely was going to do engineering … which is kind of funny since at the time I didn’t really know what being an engineer meant.” Clearly, in the years since then, Alison Hoxie ’99 has figured out what being an engineer means. She’s spent the last 10 years sharing that insight at the Swenson College of Science and Engineering – University of Minnesota Duluth – where she is currently an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of graduate studies for her department. “I get so much energy and joy for engineering from my students,” she says. “I love it when they get excited about the subject and want to learn as much as they can.” As a student, Alison chose Saint Ben’s not because it is a college specifically for women, but because it is a liberal arts college – she wanted the freedom to explore classes outside her major. But attending a women’s college ended up having a profound impact on her. “I remember during orientation they referred to us as ‘women,’ and I thought ‘Ahhh, I’m just a girl.’ But before long that simple change of language took root and changed me,” she recalls. “My whole experience at Saint Ben’s was like that. It gave me confidence to believe in myself and what I could do and become. I don’t think I would have ended up where I am today without having gone to Saint Ben’s first. For Alison, “where I am today” means working in a field where women have been traditionally underrepresented. Doing her part to bring balance to her field is important to her. “I think we are facing some of the toughest problems like climate change, access to clean water, to health care, the list goes on and on,” she says. “I have come to believe that we will only solve these problems if we have everyone at the table searching for solutions. Studies show that the more diverse the backgrounds of the people at the table, the better the solutions. STEM should reflect our general population in terms of diversity in order for us all to succeed.” Major at CSB

Natural science First-year residence hall

Aurora Favorite class:

Well, two classes come to mind. Jeff Anderson’s Intro to Peace Studies class and all the physics labs I took! So FUN! Favorite Bennie memory

I did work study in the theater, so I became friends with many theater majors. I was studying lots of technical and not always very exciting subjects at that time, so spending time using the other half of my brain, working on theater sets with theater kids, was so fun and such a great experience. I loved spending time there.