Ethlyn Ann Hansen has been a pioneer in opening opportunities and providing a role model for women in engineering.  

Ann served as Deputy District Director for Caltrans District 4, where she was responsible for state highway design activities for Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties, for administration of the District’s annual $30 million engineering consulting pro-gram and for Planning and Public Transportation for one year. Also during her distinguished Caltrans career, Ann served in numerous areas of economic and management responsibility involving both system and environmental planning, design, operation and traffic safety for the state highway system. She also took the lead on controversial assignments that required innovation and resourcefulness.

She served for eight years as Deputy District Director for Operations. During this time, she was instrumental in initiating the installation of the emergency traffic management plan, which allowed the Bay Area transportation system to continue to function after the Loma Prieta earthquake.   

She also served as District Design Coordinator, where she identified contract plan problems and solutions, developed standards and implemented policy changes. Her efforts were recognized in the area of highway traffic operations with her appointment to Deputy District Director. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Caltrans staff as well as ITE recognized her efforts and achievements by bestowing on her the 1990 Transportation Achievement Award. 

She was the first woman to graduate in civil engineering at the University of Utah and the first woman master’s graduate from the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Ann also was the first woman to reach the Principal Engineer level in the State of California civil service system. She is a registered civil engineer and traffic engineer in the State of California. 

Ann was ITE’s International Director for District 6; chair of several ITE committees; an officer for both ITE’s San Francisco Bay Area Section and District 6; chair of ITE’s 54th Annual Meeting; and chair of the ITE Equal Opportunities Committee at the International Level.