Strong roots in Nebraska bring Jensen, Hyslop to Advisory Board

Calendar Icon Oct 20, 2015      Person Bust Icon By Karl Vogel     RSS Feed  RSS Submit a Story

Mary Jensen (left) and Greg Hyslop are new members of the College of Engineering Advisory Board.
Mary Jensen (left) and Greg Hyslop are new members of the College of Engineering Advisory Board.
As children growing up in small Nebraska towns, Mary Jensen and Greg Hyslop were fascinated by flight and decided to become engineers.

After more than three decades with major American corporations, both Jensen and Hyslop have accepted a call to join the College of Engineering’s Advisory Board and hope to use their experience to keep the college soaring into the future.

Jensen, who graduated from UNL in 1974 with a degree in chemical engineering, sees increasing diversity in undergraduate enrollment as a way to help the college achieve one of its missions – better serving the state as a whole.

“When I was 13 and growing up in Scribner, Nebraska – that was in 1966 – girls weren’t encouraged to be scientists and engineers,” Jensen said. “But in the Weekly Reader, they had the story about the international space station and they said ‘If you like math and science, (engineering) is something you should consider.”

Jensen is retired but works as a senior consultant for the Cincinnati Consulting Consortium in Ohio. That came after 28 years at Procter and Gamble, the last 12 as the global head of research and development for several large brands – such as Folgers, Bounty, Tampax and Always. Her experience at UNL helped shape her view on the future of engineering.

“I think I was one of the first five women to graduate from the chemical engineering department,” Jensen said. “Even though half of the world’s population and Nebraska’s population is female, we still don’t reflect that in engineering. Bringing women and minorities into engineering was important to me (at Procter and Gamble) and it is important at UNL, too.”

Hyslop also has strong roots at UNL and in the state. Having grown up the son of a rancher and pilot, Hyslop was intrigued by aeronautics from the first time he flew with his father to check the cattle on his family’s ranch near Broken Bow.

“My dad and my grandfather always had a keen interest in technology, as it related to the cattle business and agriculture, a bent toward things that would help them with their business,” said Hyslop, who is vice president for Boeing Research and Technology. “My dad and mom, though, discouraged me from going into farming. They wanted me to go do something else.

“I was always kind of fascinated by things that fly. I like to know what makes things fly, but I never really wanted to be the one doing the flying, and that led me to UNL and engineering.”

After getting a bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 1980, Hyslop added a master’s degree in mathematics from UNL in 1982. Even after earning a Ph.D. in systems science mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, Hyslop said his first allegiance was always to Nebraska Engineering.

“I have always been very loyal to the university and the college and I wanted to see them thrive,” said Hyslop. “I got a very good education that put me in a good position for where I am today, and I would like to see that level not just maintained but get even better.”

“The agricultural background of the state and the university, by nature it becomes multidisciplinary because those things cut across so many areas both inside and outside the college, and the close affiliation (with the University of Nebraska College of Medicine). Dean Tim Wei understands that. He knows what a top-tier program looks like. He has this college on a very good trajectory, and he’s clearly got a solid vision for where it can go.”


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