Irma M. Wyman (January 31, 1928 - November 17, 2015) was an early computer engineer and the first woman to become vice president of

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

, Inc. She was a

systems thinking Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts.Anderson, Virginia, & Johnson, Lauren (1997). ''Systems Thinking Ba ...

tutor and was the first female CIO of

, Inc., then a Fortune 100 company.

Academic life

In 1945, Wyman received a Regents Scholarship and was accepted into the College of Engineering at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

as one of seven female students. To supplement her scholarship, she worked as a switchboard operator and waitress. At the time, women in engineering programs received little encouragement and support. While her grades qualified her for membership in

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

, the engineering honor society, she received only a "Women's Badge", since the society did not admit women at the time. Wyman graduated with a Bachelor of Science/EM degree in 1949, one of two women in her class.

Career

Computing Future Thought Leadership

While still a junior in college, Wyman worked on a missile guidance project at the Willow Run Research Center. To calculate trajectory, they used mechanical calculators. She visited the U.S. Naval Proving Ground where

Grace Hopper Grace Brewster Hopper (; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of mach ...

was working on similar problems and discovered they were using a prototype of a programmable

Mark II Mark II or Mark 2 often refers to the second version of a product, frequently military hardware. "Mark", meaning "model" or "variant", can be abbreviated "Mk." Mark II or Mark 2 may refer to: Military and weaponry * 16"/50 caliber Mark 2 gun ...

computer developed at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She became interested in computers and later recalled that "I became an enthusiastic pioneer in this new technology and it led to my life's career." After graduation, she joined a

start-up company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

that was eventually acquired by

Honeywell Information Systems Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

. She moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and began a long management career at Honeywell, eventually serving as chief information officer. She became vice president of

Corporate Information Management (CIM) before retiring in 1990. Wyman then began a second career as archdeacon in the

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the Episcopal Church where she coached

servant leadership Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader's main focus is the thriving of their company or organization. A servant leader shares power ...

, retiring again after ten years as Archdeacon of the Diocese of Minnesota. Wyman supported research and planning as a

thought leader A thought leader has been described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field. A thought leader is a person who specializes in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance. As the term implies, ...

futures studies Futures studies, futures research or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and wor ...

. As an aside to this, she contended 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 endowed the Irma M. Wyman Scholarship at the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women to support women in engineering, computer science and related fields, and she endowed two Irma M. Wyman internships at the

Hill Museum & Manuscript Library The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) is a nonprofit organization that photographs, catalogs, and provides free access to collections of manuscripts located in libraries around the world. HMML prioritizes manuscripts located in regions enda ...

for women who are juniors and seniors at

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related private, Benedictine liberal arts colleges in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is a college for women in St. Joseph and Saint John's University is a u ...

. Irma's persistent advocacy for women in computer science and leadership reflects those of her early career mentor,

Awards and honors

* Michigan Engineering Alumni Society Medal - 2001 * Honorary Doctor of Engineering, University of Michigan - 2007

Quote

''We never get a second chance to make a first impression.'' (1983–1987) :When sponsoring Honeywell's

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed ent ...

Corporate Information Management

Information Security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

Awareness Program (ISAP).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyman, Irma Scientists from Saint Paul, Minnesota American women computer scientists American computer scientists 1928 births 2015 deaths University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni American women business executives Chief information officers 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American women 21st-century American women