ONE ON ONE
Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence speaks at the Technology Recognition Luncheon during the 17th annual Women of Color STEM Conference in Dallas, Texas, October 2012.
SHIFT HAPPENS: HOW A WOMEN IS CHANGING OUR ‘MAN’S ARMY’ S
Susan S. Lawrence was a wide-eyed 18-year-old when she enlisted in the Army in 1972. At the time, information technology was a little-known term and female generals in the Army were unheard of.
But as Lawrence told a Women of Color Technology Rec- ognition Luncheon in Dallas several months ago, “shift happens.”
Lawrence is now Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence and she is chief information officer for the U.S. Army. She is the first woman to hold the post. In her job, she is respon- sible for setting strategic direction for all of the service’s command, control, communications, computer and, yes, information technology. Her word is crucial to determin- ing the architecture of communications security, force structure, and network, communications, and signal ca- pabilities of the Army. She reports to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno and oversees a budget of more than $15 billion.
10 WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2013
It is a remarkable job, particularly for a woman who enlisted in the Army as a stenographer after taking courses in typing and home economics before graduating from high school in Ida Grove, Iowa. But working in the secretarial pool was not to be her destiny. While in the Army, Lawrence earned a bachelors degree at Campbell University, as well as an Army commission as a second lieutenant. After that, she received a master’s degree in information systems management from the University of Georgia.
From there, Lawrence seems to have made it her busi- ness to shatter the glass ceiling. In her Army career, she has served in assignments in the United States, Asia and Europe, while commanding at every level from platoons to the Army Signal Command.
Her latest job comes with three stars, making her just the fourth woman to achieve the rank of lieutenant general in the Army. Her job also brings an awesome set of responsi-
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