 Tonya Shadduck
Strategic Planning Consultant
Central and Southwest Services Corporation
Dallas, TX
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 B.S. -
Electrical Engineering, New Mexico State University
M.S. - Business
Administration, University of Texas at Arlington |
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Tonya Shadduck is
working in a new area of business for CSW called Total EV where
she markets and distributes lightweight recreational vehicles.
She is also devoted to promoting electric vehicle
infrastructure. |
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"It's very important
that you make sure you take care of your own educational needs
to make yourself a marketable package." |
 
"I'd say - the MBA - I wouldn't be here without the business degree. But,
I don't think I could do my job as effectively or understand some of the
engineering and technological trends that are going on without the
engineering background."
Tonya Shadduck of Central and Southwest Services advises students to make
themselves "marketable." No one can expect to stay with the same employer
for his or her entire career. Therefore, it becomes imperative to have
skills that are transferable. She recommends getting the broadest possible
background and then keeping up with one's field.
Shadduck reminds students that the "world is business. Every company is in
business to make money." Besides engineering, it is necessary to study
finance and accounting. "You have to understand how your company makes
money. You wouldn't be working for that company if they weren't in
business. So you need to understand either what cost you're containing or
what revenue you're helping to contribute to." In a global market
especially, an engineer needs to have a larger perspective than the purely
technical.
As a consultant in the strategic planning department of her company,
Shadduck needs both technical knowledge and knowledge of economics. She
went to school at night to get her MBA while working as an engineer in
integrated resource planning. "I realized that I didn't have a real broad
perspective on things. It seemed that I understood what I was doing at
work, but I [wanted]. . . to get a broader financial background, and the
MBA just seemed like the best way to do it." And, in fact, the business
degree opened the door to her current position.
Shadduck suggests other courses that would be helpful to engineering
students. "I think philosophy would be a good one. But anything that
really helps you expand your thinking and be creative in how you think
about things would be helpful. I took some English; I took some
anthropology. Economics was helpful." She reiterates, "It's very important
that you make sure you take care of your own educational needs" to make
yourself "a marketable package."
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