DC Coleman is currently a member of the NCSSM Foundation Board of Directors, and a past member of the Alumni Association Board. She holds a BS in electrical engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has worked as a technology principal at Xerox, product design engineer at Ford, and held numerous leadership roles in global operations at Nortel Networks. Coleman shared some of her Science and Math memories with us as we gear up to Alumni Weekend.

Q. What surprised you the most about attending Science & Math?
Waaay too many rules . . . from curfews to visitation to housekeeping to mandatory study hours.  

Q. Favorite teacher and/or class?
Physics with Dr. Andre Manring

Q. What’s the biggest change in who you are now, compared to who you thought you’d be when graduating from NCSSM?
I stayed on track with my then goals, which were to get an engineering degree, work for two years and then attend business school.  That was an eight-year horizon, which seemed pretty long as it equated to almost half my life of 18 years!

Q. What’s the best piece of advice you would give to today’s Science and Math students?
Study hard, take advantage of all the opportunities the school provides, and know that it will all work out in the end. Relax and enjoy your experience.

Q. Any fun Unicorn connections over the years? 
I’ve had a great opportunity to connect with Unicorns from most of the classes while serving on the Alumni Association and Foundation boards.  If not at a campus event, the airport is pretty popular.

Q. What was your most memorable moment or time at school?
Writing a shuttle experiment proposal for NASA and traveling to Goddard Space Flight Center to present it to a team of astronauts.  I share that experience with classmate Reggie Humphrey.

Winslow serves as NCSSM’s vice chancellor for advancement, a job he’s held since 2007. It’s harder for him to step back and remember campus then, because it’s such a big part of his life now, but he shared a few reflections.

Q. What’s the first thing your classmates probably remember about you?

I had some funky madras board shorts, sort of surf-bum shorts, that I’d wear a lot, that’s probably what they’d remember.

Q. What surprised you the most about attending Science & Math?

I was surprised at how fun it was to go to the school, it was just super fun.

Q. Favorite teacher and/or class?

Helen Compton for math.

Q. What’s the biggest change in who you are now, compared to who you thought you’d be when graduating from NCSSM?

I don’t think my 18-year-old self knew there were things at the school that needed doing, such as the job I have now.

Q. Any fun Unicorn connections over the years?

My life revolves around my friends from Science & Math far more than I ever would have anticipated that it would. It amazes me that I find Unicorns anywhere I go. It was a classmate who introduced me to Bristol [his wife; they have two sons: Thomas ’15 and Robert ’17].

Join in the fun, keep the memories flowing! The Classes of 6s and 1s are invited back to Durham October 7-9 to share stories, tour campus, and enjoy time together.