04/22/04 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
04/22/04 - Posted from the Daily Record
newsroom
Bob Karp /
Daily RecordSuzanne Engels, adjunct professor of e-business at the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University, took early retirement from Bell Labs and began a Web site design and consulting business. |
The job: Suzanne Engels
teaches e-business as an adjunct professor at the Rothman
Institute of Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson
University's Florham Park campus.
Her first teaching job; she started in January. "I love
it."
Most interesting part of her job is "guiding students who
are smarter than I am … it's so much fun to work with them."
Became interested in teaching after she took an early
retirement incentive from Bell Labs in 2001.
Also founded WebArtNTech.com, which does small-business Web
site design and Web consulting for large businesses, and holds
seminars on Internet marketing and building small-business Web
sites.
Organizations: Member of New Jersey Association of
Women Business Owners, HTML Writers Guild and the American
Association of University Women.
Born: Oct. 11, 1955, in Green Bay, Wis. "… But I am
not a cheesehead!" Came to New Jersey in 2000 after husband
was offered a position in the state.
Parents: Father worked in sales at IBM. Mother was a
housewife primarily and also had a master's degree in library
science. Both deceased.
Most important thing she learned from them: "Everybody
deserves a happy childhood -because I had one."
Has four brothers and one sister; she was the first girl.
"I was special."
Education: Bachelor's in fine arts from University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was good in math and art
in high school. Studied fine arts in college because "there
wasn't any encouragement for women to get into math and
sciences."
Also, associate's degree in digital electronics from Robert
Morris College in DuPage, Ill., and master's degree in
computer science from Boston University.
Decided to study computer science when as a computer-aided
design manager, she foresaw that software development was
going to be a hot job.
Career: Retired from Bell Labs, where she was a
member of the technical staff, after 21 years with the
company. "I spent six months trying to figure out what I was
going to do with the rest of my life." Started WebArtNTech.com
in 2002.
Family: Married to husband, Frank, since 1976. Met
him in college. She had to woo him for a while. Has 22 nieces
and nephews.
Home: Has lived in East Brunswick since 2000.
Hobbies: "I love to cook." Has a Web site called
www.colorfulplate.com, where she posts "easy, everyday fresh
veggie recipes."
Sports: Hikes and snow skis. Also exercises six days
a week.
Wheels: Green Toyota Camry. "I've owned so many cars
in my lifetime. … I don't think my Camry says a lot about me."
Once owned a '65 Mustang convertible.
Favorite food: "It changes all the time. Right now,
it's Vietnamese or Moroccan."
Favorite restaurant: Olives in Boston. "When we go
to Boston, I go there all the time."
On the screen: "I like lots of movies." Favorite is
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Day the Earth Stood
Still."
On the page: "I love to read." Likes biographies.
The last "really good" book she read was "The Secret Life of
Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd.
Keys to success: "To always be ready for new
opportunities and open to do different things."
Advice to businesses: Don't approach building a Web
site as a single event with a single cost. "They do it and
they think it's done. Six months later, all they have is a
stale Web site. Keep your Web site up-to-date and in line with
your business. As your business changes, change your Web site.
Use it to market your business."
People would be surprised to know: "I'm an avid cook
and that I design my own recipes." Also grows herbs. "Culinary
herbs are my passion."
She briefly lived in Germany and "couldn't bear" to leave
her herb garden.
Proudest moment: Earning her master's degree in
computer science at age 39 while she was working full-time.
"That was hard work. … I told myself, 'I'm going to get this
before I turn 40.'"