July/August 2020

NSPE Today
Oklahoma PE Set to Begin Presidential Term

TRICIA HATLEY, P.E., F.NSPE, ADDRESSES ATTENDEES AT THE 2018 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS.

Tricia Hatley, P.E., F.NSPE, a civil engineer who specializes in the design of highway and urban roadways as well as drainage analysis, will become the Society’s 82nd president on August 1.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, NSPE’s officer installation ceremony will be held virtually, following the House of Delegates General Assembly.

Hatley is a past president of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, where she served in numerous leadership roles. Today she is a member of the Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers.

As a principal and vice president at Freese and Nichols Inc., where she has worked for 27 years, she is responsible for the firm’s offices in Oklahoma. Her background ranges from context-sensitive downtown redevelopment to large-scale, regional thoroughfare projects.

Prior to working at Freese and Nichols, a multidisciplinary firm based in Fort Worth, Texas, she worked at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. She earned a BS in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1993.

At NSPE, she has served on the Education Foundation and the Committee on Policy and Advocacy, among others, and she chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee.

About 2020–21 President Trish Hatley

Why I became an engineer: My mother taught kindergarten and first grade in the public-school system. As a young girl, I would help her by grading papers, shopping for supplies, and setting up her classroom each year. She worked incredibly hard and invested so much of her own time and money for very little appreciation and respect. I truly respect and value her work but knew that I didn’t have the gifts required to be a good teacher. I always loved math and really enjoyed my high school physics class, so my dad suggested I look at engineering. He was an accountant but had some exposure to engineers in his work. He took me to career fairs and to visit our local universities to learn more about engineering and the opportunities available. Through that effort, I decided that I wanted to be a civil engineer.

Best professional advice: “Make your boss look good.” I think that’s good advice, but I try to take it a step further. I try to not only help my boss be successful, but my coworkers and employees as well. If we are all doing our best and have the support we need to be successful, then the organization will thrive. That approach has served me well over the years, and I’m proud of all the great accomplishments of those I’ve worked with both professionally and with NSPE.

The engineering achievement that amazes me: Space travel. Specifically, the early accomplishments in the 1960s and the first landing on the moon. The engineering that went into those efforts without all the computing power we have available to us now is just amazing to me!

Favorite pastime: These days I am really enjoying gardening. I like growing roses, perennials, and other interesting landscape plants. I’ve also been tinkering with some vegetables and an herb garden the past few years. Depending on the season and if I’m training for an event, I spend a decent amount of time running. I do it for fitness but also find it relaxing and a stress reliever. From 5k’s to marathons, I’ve completed most every distance event.