Recently TSPS highlighted "Women in Surveying" for our March Issue of the Texas Surveyor Magazine. If you missed last months issue, we are highlighting another Women Surveyor, Dana Markus-Wolf. Dana Markus-Wolf, RPLS #4996, is the President and General Partner at Landmark Surveying, LP and TSPS Chapter 13 - Capital Area member.  

How did you get into surveying?: In my second semester of college at Texas A&M, at age 18 I was talking with my mother about what I wanted to do with my life. She asked me some very practical questions like: “Do you want to work indoors or outdoors?” both, I said. She asked, “Do you like Math or English better?” again, I answered both. Out of the blue, she suggested surveying and told me a little about it. I thought it sounded interesting so enrolled in the Civil Engineering Plane Surveying class. Three times a week this class was held indoors and once a week outdoors on the campus golf course. Are you kidding? This could be a job? I loved it! Next, I enrolled in the co-op program, which allowed students to alternate working a semester and going to school a semester. In the spring of 1977, I began working in the field as a tail “chainman” in the swamps of Conroe, Texas.

The Importance of Women in Surveying: I think many women don’t give the surveying profession a chance because it is a male dominated field. The more women join the surveying workforce, the more we will see these barriers eliminated, thereby boosting the pool of qualified female workers. We should never settle for just half the population being given opportunities to succeed in the profession that best matches their abilities and personality type.

In 1977, when I was taking the Civil Engineering Plan Surveying class and started out in the field, it is hard to even imagine what it would have been like to actually have had a female role model or mentor. Several years later, I finally met other women in surveying. I had to fight to use the shovel, the chain saw, the machete, even the metal detector because most men wouldn't let me near these tools! I was always the first out of the truck, and I had the educational framework and passion for my chosen profession. I like to believe that today’s women in surveying are out there following in the footsteps of the original surveyors and not having to fight to do so.