295 Millennium - Seventeenth Edition ENERGY, ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING For over 60 years, Ellenda Wulfestieg has found success in many diverse sectors, such as the humanities, museum studies, skilled trades, the oil and gas industry, and education. A natural explorer with a passion for learning, she grew up camping throughout California, which encouraged her curiosity and tenacity. In pursuit of a higher education, she attended the University of California, Los Angeles for three and a half years and then earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies at the University of New Orleans. Ms. Wulfestieg’s career began in academia, working at the UCLA Research Library, followed by serving as an assistant librarian at the University of California, Berkeley’s Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy library. She later became an ethnographic conservator at the Museum of the American Indian in New York. In 1970, she became a research associate at Tulane University and subsequently pursued an electrical apprenticeship, becoming the first woman to graduate at the top of her class in both field and class work. Afterward, Ms. Wulfestieg worked her way up to maintenance foreman at the Tenneco Refinery and later excelled in assistant purchaser and accounting supervisor roles with the company. Drawing on her physics background, Ms. Wulfestieg accepted a position with NASA, which she considers a career highlight. She then returned to the energy industry as a refinery superintendent for Aruba Refinery Corporation and a manager for the Curacao Shell refinery. During the 1990s, she explored opportunities in business leadership, spending five years as president of Ivestra in Venezuela before pivoting to become an ESL instructor for Better English and Pierce College. Since 2010, she has operated as a rater for Educational Testing Service’s TOEIC program, listening and grading students’ spoken English. Adjacent to her primary efforts, Ms. Wulfestieg also remains active with local animal charities. She credits much of her success to her intelligence, confidence, and strong will, having been celebrated with recognitions from Tenneco, an endurance record at NASA, and a 2008 Washington State honor for workplace development practices. Looking to the future, she hopes to write a book. ELLENDA WULFESTIEG RATER Educational Testing Service Prosperity, SC
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