UMUC: Leading the Way at AlliedSignal

In many ways, it is not surprising that so many UMUC alumni would end up working at AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation (ATSC).

Wayne L. Friedman '82, the vice president of ATSC Goddard Programs, has worked at ATSC a full two decades, since 1978. A desire to advance within ATSC induced him to build upon his earlier education and work toward a bachelor's degree from UMUC.

"I received a two-year degree from Prince George's Community College in business computer processing, and my last instructor there asked me if I was interested in a job with Bendix Field Engineering (as AlliedSignal was known until 1982)," Friedman explains. "I took a job as an assistant-level programmer and then continued my education while working here by transferring to UMUC and going to school at night. My primary specialization was in computer science and my secondary specialization was in business and management and information systems."

Friedman says his UMUC degree really got his career rolling at ATSC and has subsequently helped him advance in the software systems development part of the company. "The fact that I had a good technical foundation really allowed me to move quickly through the ranks," he says. "And my secondary specialization in business management allowed me to make the step from technical performer to management much more easily, and then to make the leap to the executive level."

Today, Friedman runs an ATSC business enterprise with more than 2,500 employees nationwide that does about $300 million of business per year. His main customer is NASA, and his division does most of the operations- and systems-development work at Goddard Space Flight Center.

"We operate all the communications ground stations, what are called 'space network stations,' and we actually fly the satellites under this program for Goddard Space Flight Center," Friedman says. His people are also responsible for ground-space communications during the most high-profile NASA missions, such as those involving the space shuttle.

His success and that of other UMUC alumni working at ATSC can be directly linked to the university's curriculum, says Friedman.

"UMUC provides a good environment for working full time and going to school in the evenings," he says. "The flexibility of the program and the quality of the education is certainly one reason. Honestly, I think the fact that so many people who have graduated from there have done well speaks for the quality of the education."

Bruce A. Emmel '86, the manager of ATSC's Technology Information Services, has worked at ATSC for 30 years.

In the 1960s, Emmel was an Air Force enlisted man stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, as a ground radar technician. When his term of service was over, he was able to use his technical background and contacts at what was then Bendix Field Services (the company that serviced the equipment he worked with) to secure a position as an electronic technician at what was to become AlliedSignal.

When he started with Bendix, Emmel was assigned the job of maintaining and repairing a now-obsolete type of U.S. Army backpack radio. Shortly after he began, a U.S. military radar site near the demilitarized zone in Korea went down, and he was sent overseas to help repair it. Since then, he has advanced upward through the ranks at ATSC.

In his current job, Emmel manages ATSC employees who provide direct operational support for NASA scientific spacecraft, such as communication satellites. "We're responsible for safety, security, training, assistance." Emmel says. "Soup to nuts."

Emmel worked at ATSC for nearly 20 years before he completed his degree, something that might have been difficult were it not for the flexibility offered by UMUC. While Emmel found he needed additional education to advance into the jobs he was interested in at ATSC, UMUC's willingness to cater to the schedules of working adults, he says, is one of the reasons he decided to work toward his degree at the university.

"That format was excellent for somebody like me who was busy," says Emmel. "You could really knock the credits out quickly."

Emmel was instrumental in organizing a "lunch and learn" seminar at ATSC for UMUC alumni in the Greenbelt area in May and has been active with the Alumni Association in many other ways. He was appointed to the association's Board of Directors in 1995 and was elected its vice president at large in 1996. As chair of the Career and Professional Development Committee, he has led it in planning many successful seminars on career trends in marketing, computer technology, and management; he has also led workshops on developing career skills.

Mary Bly Barbehenn '96, a supervisor for the ATSC Requirements and Agreements Office, works onsite at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Barbehenn's job entails supervising, assigning, and conducting ad hoc studies, and the people who work in the section she heads are all involved in direct customer support. For example, one of her staff members does administrative work for foreign international missions, another works with the International Space Station, and another conducts ad hoc studies for the Department of Defense and the International Space Station.

Barbehenn began working for ATSC (then Bendix) 17 years ago as a technician, drawing upon her A.A. degree in digital electronics from Catonsville Community College.

"I was 41 years old, coming into a field that was dominated by men at that time," she says. "When I applied for an entry-level technician job, I was probably hired because I was the first woman who had applied in many, many years for a technical job. I moved up from there."

The demands of her current management position required that she return to school. In 1994 Barbehenn began studying at UMUC and, just two years later, earned her bachelor's degree with a specialization in management and technology. Her degree has helped her greatly, she says, much more so than if she had sought her degree right out of high school.

"At UMUC I learned new management techniques that are applicable in today's society," Barbehenn says. "Such things as TQM (total quality management) and diversity are issues employees have to face in today's workplace." As with so many other working people, Barbehenn appreciated the flexibility offered by UMUC.

"I found that as an older student—even though my kids were grown, working the hours that I did—the flexibility allowed me to gear the classes around my lifestyle," she says. "Most of the courses I took were Open Learning at the satellite facilities, so that I wouldn't have to travel to College Park after work."

Barbehenn says she was initially apprehensive about taking voice-mail courses, but ultimately came to find them very convenient and interesting. "The instructor was very interactive, and allowed us to set up individual mailboxes," she says. "We were able to talk to the other students, even though we weren't in a classroom, via the voice mailboxes."

Because UMUC is a leader in providing educational opportunities for adults, it will continue to attract professionals like Barbehenn who need to stay on the cutting edge of technology and management. "As somebody told me the other day, 'We are moving out of an industrial society and into a society of technology and communications,'" she says. "So, nobody should ever think they are too old to go back to school."

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