CUTV News Radio spotlights pioneering engineer Barbara Koenig-Pfannkuche

Niles, IL – Barbara Koenig-Pfannkuche is a pioneering engineer and educator whose story is one of true empowerment.

Barbara has a number of “firsts” in her career. To her knowledge, she was the first female high school student in the nation to ever be allowed to take a shop course. She was the first female student to ever attend and graduate from DeVry University.

“When I was in high school my mother went all the way to the superintendent of high schools in Chicago demanding that they permit me to take shop: electronic shop, wood shop, machine shop,” recalls Barbara. “At the time, those courses were out-of-bounds for girls. But you don't know my 4’8” mother. She did not take "no" for an answer.”

After DeVry, Barbara would go on to work for Hammond Organ, and later engineer cameras for government planes. She even helped work on the early fax machine. Barbara later transitioned into education, teaching electronics, appliance and computer repair for both high school and college students.

“Seeing what was happening with education, I wanted to take all the knowledge that I had gained in industry and give it to the high school and college students in Chicago and suburban schools.”

Barbara spent 40 years teaching in inner-city Chicago’s rough Cabrini-Green neighborhood. Her time teaching would also include teaching at a high school inside Cook County Jail in Chicago.

Barbara credits it all to the example of her mother, who was determined to see that her daughter had every opportunity to succeed and excel no matter her gender.

“I always put the mirror in front of my students. I say, You can do whatever you want. Never let anybody discourage you. You go on no matter how hard or how long it's going to take you to succeed. If you want to succeed, you will succeed.'"