UVA Engineering Alumna Honored for Excellence
DENVER — The American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado (ACEC Colorado) has honored Jill. S. Tietjen, P.E., a UVA Engineering alumnus and President and CEO of Technically Speaking, Inc., with The General Palmer Award.
The General Palmer Award is given to an engineer who has made a significant contribution to Colorado, received recognition in the community, made advancements in the engineering community, and has had an impact on future generations.
“We are honored to recognize Jill Tietjen, who embodies all of the qualities we look for in The General Palmer Award recipient. As a visionary, General Palmer was a civil engineer, industrialist and philanthropist who founded Colorado Springs. We bestow this award to individuals that advance the engineering community and have made noteworthy contributions to the State of Colorado,” said Nancy Clanton, PE, President of ACEC Colorado.
With more than 40 years in the electric utility industry, Tietjen has made significant contributions to the engineering industry through her consulting career, volunteerism and service on several board of directors for various associations and firms. She is a member of the UVA Engineering Board of Trustees. Described by the Colorado Woman’s Hall of Fame, where she was inducted in 2010, as a powerhouse, author, speaker and electrical engineer, Tietjen has worked to raise awareness of infrastructure issues and has been an advocate for women in the engineering field.
Notable career accomplishments include providing expert witness testimony on behalf of electric utilities before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and numerous state commissions, serving as an accreditor on behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for five years and serving on the Engineering Accreditation Commission for five years, serving on the Colorado State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors for eight years (two years as Chair) and donating her time as the national president of the Society of Women Engineers. She was the first woman to serve on the board of directors at the Rocky Mountain Electrical League (RMEL) and was also its first female president.
In addition, Tietjen mentors young woman in the technology and engineering fields, and has established national and local scholarships for women in those fields. In her role as a series editor for the Springer Women in Engineering Series, she is providing a platform for women to document their work in science and engineering.
