Edwina Lucenius was a successful executive secretary in New Jersey when family obligations brought her home to Stratford. There, she found her skills in low demand and she sought a different direction.
She found a very different direction.
A year after entering Housatonic Community College”™s advanced manufacturing program, Lucenius today works for RBC-Heim Bearings in Fairfield where she is involved in the nondestructive testing of metals, specializing in magnetic particle inspection. She works with microscopes, high-tech fluids and black lights.
Lucenius had been told manufacturing was a man”™s world ”” she”™s the first female to graduate the Housatonic program, which itself is a year old ”” but has found the reality more nuanced. She said, yes, manufacturing is dominated by men, but she also said, “Everything depends on the people. At Heim Bearings there is an incredibly open culture and an international mix of men and women.”
Lucenius praised the manufacturing program for its breadth, noting, “Although I found my niche, it”™s reassuring to know I”™m able to run any machine in the company.”
Heim”™s bearings are used in airplanes and other critical parts for machinery.
“Of course I felt the pressure being the first female,” she said of the program. “But I can handle pressure pretty well. The class became like family.”
“We”™re delighted that the program has opened up career opportunities for graduates like Edwina while providing area manufacturers with the skilled employees they need,” said Anson Smith, public relations coordinator for the college. “This is indeed a win-win situation.”
The state contributed $18 million last year toward establishing manufacturing programs at public colleges across the state.
