The Heart and Soul of a Utility
It is hard to keep your head When everyone else is losing theirs. Some are better at keeping their wits about them than others. When I headed south to...
Lives on the Line
Jon BeasleySupervisor of Safety TrainingMunicipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG)Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. for Jon Beasley, you might well say electricity...
Linemen Rally for Annual Rodeo Competition
Hundreds of linemen — journeymen and apprentices alike — have been working hard all year developing their skills. And next month, they will have the opportunity...
Riding the Path to Success
Whether helping clients solve T&D planning issues, cycling 40-plus miles with his bike club or spending time with family, Steve Chapel can be considered...
A Study in Engineering
CHEN XIAO-JIE, ALSO KNOWN AS JACKSON X.J. CHEN, BEGINS EACH DAY AT 6 A.M. Evenings, he likely can be found poring over electrical engineering magazines,...
A Career Tracks Ahead
Innovation. Automation. Integration. To the average person, these words may appear unrelated. Glenn Pritchard, a project manager on Exelon's Meter Reading...
Four Linemen Strive To Earn a Golden Ticket
Russell Hawes was bombarded by utility companies and contractors recently as he approached graduation from the Northwest Lineman College's (NLC)Electrical...
Street Smarts
Our industry is in a world of hurt. We are losing our seasoned and streetwise talent. I'm talking about the guys who have gained this tacit, or unspoken...
A Harmonious Union
Whether you ahere to the adage "birds of a feather flock together" or you live by the rule opposites attract, it's easy to agree that Carol and Dale Douglass...
Linemen Talk Construction
Our industry is in the middle of a construction boom. Upgrades, increased capacity and population sprawl are creating a record number of construction projects. I asked line workers what is driving the construction boom in their service territory ...
Generation Vocation
People rarely remember what you say, they only sometimes remember what you do, but they always remember how you made them feel. To Erin Pogue, manager...
ITCTransmission Celebrates 1 Million Safe Man-Hours
ITCTransmission, a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. has celebrated one million safe man-hours performed by its primary field operations and maintenance contractor, Utility Lines Construction, without one lost time safety incident since ITCTransmission assumed responsibility for the electric transmission system in Southeast Michigan...
In the Zone
We all exhibit our personal styles at work. I usually approach work casually, building in time to improvise during the day. I try to be available to answer...
Online Education Program Enables Utility Workers to Advance Their Careers
The Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE) has partnered with Thomas Edison State College (Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.) to offer the nation's first...
A Continental Career
Growing up in the rural town of Yangzhong, China, in the 1970S and '80S, Allen Xi dreamed of becoming a medical doctor just like his parents. Unlike some...
Linemen to the Rescue
Lineman rodeos and company events where linemen compete in pole-climbing events such as the hurtman rescue keep linemen sharp on their skills and give...
An Everyday Hero
Some people aren't sure what they want to do in life, but James Herrin isn't one of them. From the time he became a (groundman or apprentice to a lineman)...
Flexible Graduate Degree Program Allows Working Engineers to Further Education
By day, Normann Fischer works as a principal power engineer for Schweitzer Engineering Labs (SEL; Pullman, Washington, U.S.). At night and on the weekends,...
Meters and Motorcycles
Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, Missy Lofland leads an exciting double life. By day, this dedicated wife, mother and believe it or not grandmother supervises...
Born to run
Each November, Brian Wareing dons his requisite red Santa suit in preparation for the annual reindeer-drawn sleigh ride to the Chester Shopping Mall in...
A global vision
What do an engineer, teacher, humanitarian, world traveler and adventurer have in common? Actually, they're one in the same person Dr. Lisa Lamont, assistant...
Spanning Generations
Boredom is my enemy, an enemy I banished to the outer kingdom years ago. But I find vigilance is required; otherwise, that adversary will sneak up on...
We are family in memoriam
The ESMO live-line show is a convocation of line personnel who get together every three years to demonstrate the latest in field techniques. This is a...
Career Fulfillment
As novelist George Eliot wrote, it's never to late to be what you might have been. Perhaps no one knows this better than Eli Nelson, associate product...
Indian Executives Learn from U.S. Utility
Under the India Energy Partnership Program II, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), six executives from North Delhi Power...
