Engineering thrives on precision—clean lines, exact angles, flawless function. But life? That’s where flexibility, adaptability, and the courage to figure things out on the fly come in.
Someone who embodies both realities is Joe Sener, a double alum of NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology who recently shared his experience with students facing a future loaded with unknowns.
In a keynote speech at this year’s Scholarship, Staff, Faculty and Student Awards ceremony on May 2 at the NIU Convocation Center, Sener’s case study was his own unorthodox career journey.
“Do not allow `perfect,’” he summed up, “to get in the way of good.”
Originally from the south side of Chicago, Sener first enrolled at the University of Colorado when he came out of high school. He acknowledges that he didn’t take his studies seriously enough, so he dropped out in the early 1970s and eventually enlisted with the U.S. Army for three years before enrolling at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he majored in mechanical engineering.
A few years later, with the tuition bills piling up and having gained knowledge and skills that had prepared him for the workforce, Sener left IIT without attaining his bachelor’s degree.
About a decade later, by now in his mid-30s and having made a mark in hydraulics and pneumatics, Sener was hired as vice president of engineering by a company. The next day, the firm announced—despite Sener being transparent about not having a bachelor’s degree—that he had received his bachelor’s degree from IIT.
Sener immediately alerted company leadership to the mistake, prompting its president to note the significance of Sener’s ethical disclosure: “We hired you because of the work you did in the fluid power industry. However, if I’d found this out on my own six months from now, I’d have fired you.”
“It got very quiet at that moment,” Sener continued. “Then, without skipping a beat, he asked, `So when are you going to finish?’”
Sener was speechless initially but recognized that this was to be a necessary step in his unlikely journey. Having just received a postcard from then-NIU engineering technology department chair Dennis Stoia promoting that department’s programs, Sener picked up the phone and spoke directly with Stoia for 45 minutes.
“Honestly, it’s been that way ever since,” Sener said. “I think that’s one of the things that Northern brings to the table—this great access students have to faculty and others who can guide you on your way.”
Taking coursework at NIU while continuing to advance in his career, Sener received his bachelor’s degree in engineering technology five years later, in 1993. He was 40—his father’s age when he secured his own college degree through the GI Bill after World War II.
Over his wide-ranging career working for medical manufacturing companies like ICU Medical, Hospira and Baxter International, Sener’s roles included vice president and senior vice president of quality for device engineering. He’s also thrived in new product development across many industries, including nuclear power plant design, heavy steel fabrication of pressure vessels and airlocks and hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders.
For many years, Sener has been an active and passionate supporter of NIU generally and CEET particularly. He served on the NIU Alumni Association Board of Directors for 10 years, including two years as its president, and is currently on the NIU Foundation Board of Directors.
Along the way, in 2010, he earned his master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from NIU. His odyssey lends weight to these words that he shared at the awards ceremony:
“Do not for a moment think that the job you have when you leave here is the job you’re going to have five years from now, let alone 45 years from now. It doesn’t work that way. I could never have drawn a straight line from a kid down on the South Side to Vice President of Quality for a $15 billion manufacturing company. I had no idea that was coming.”
“The next ring comes along, the next opportunity comes along, keep setting that foundation,” Sener concluded. “What Northern provides is that foundation, so take advantage of that.”
Sener’s remarks capped a day that began with the Senior Design Project Showcase and concluded with faculty, staff and students receiving recognition for their outstanding efforts this past year. Afterwards, CEET Dean Dave Grewell announced this year’s award winners.
