Engineer of the Year
by Michelle Mondo
St. Mary’s University alumna Jennifer “Jenny” LaFoy reached a career milestone in 2025 when the Texas Society of Professional Engineers named her Engineer of the Year. She is only the second woman to receive the distinction in the award’s 51-year history.
Now a project adviser and associate vice president at Halff, an infrastructure consulting firm, LaFoy joins distinguished company — her husband and colleague Brian LaFoy (2016 Engineer of the Year) and Halff founder Albert H. Halff, Ph.D. (1980 Engineer of the Year) — as only the third Halff employee to earn the prestigious honor.
“We were both humbled and honored,” LaFoy said about her and her husband’s reactions.
LaFoy (B.S. ’00) uses her more than two decades of experience in the field to give back by going into schools to talk about engineering and promote the profession. She is also the state treasurer for the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE), an organization that promotes and enhances the profession and licensed practice of engineering. She and Brian LaFoy worked to bring a TSPE student chapter to St. Mary’s, which became a reality this Spring Semester.
Being part of the society continued the sense of community she once found on the St. Mary’s campus. Community was one of the reasons LaFoy chose to leave her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, to attend St. Mary’s.
“I loved the campus and how welcoming and helpful everyone was when we were there visiting,” LaFoy said.
LaFoy was invited to join the St. Mary’s Honors Program, which helped her ultimately decide on a career in engineering.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “I knew I was good at math. I started out as a Physics major, and at the end of my first year, I switched to Engineering Science because there was an environmental concentration.”
Her time at St. Mary’s helped her grow into a better professional, she said. The St. Mary’s spirit extended to LaFoy’s sisters, Kristine Goetz (B.A. ’00, M.B.A. ’02) and Kimberly Millar (B.A. ’02), as well.
“Having a university grounded in Christian belief and values helps with making decisions and how you conduct yourself,” she said. “You go to school to learn academics, but you need the values that go along with that for a successful professional career. The St. Mary’s mission is more than just academics.”
Throughout her career, LaFoy has gravitated toward projects that impact the public. She later earned a master’s in Civil Engineering with a concentration in water resources. LaFoy wanted to better understand the cross-section of infrastructure and water, and how the two impacted each other. She now works on flood mitigation and stormwater projects at Halff.
“First and foremost, it is about saving lives,” she said. “As a licensed Professional Engineer, I am responsible for protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. And after that, it’s about protecting critical infrastructure and people’s homes and belongings.”
St. Mary’s President Winston Erevelles, Ph.D., said he has known LaFoy for a dozen years or more. St. Mary’s honored her with the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2015, and she was also recognized as the Texas Engineering Foundation’s Distinguished Engineer of the Year in 2023, Erevelles said.
“You go to school to learn academics, but you need the values that go along with that for a successful professional career. The St. Mary’s mission is more than just academics.”
— Jennifer “Jenny” LaFoy
“I am delighted, but not at all surprised, that she would be recognized by the TSPE, not once, but twice! She was honored as Young Engineer of the Year by TSPE in 2012 and then again in 2025 with the Engineer of the Year award,” Erevelles said. “These awards recognize her sustained intellectual contributions, professionalism, passion for the engineering profession in service to the public and dedication to developing the next generation of talent. Jenny and Brian LaFoy are a powerhouse couple, and I am blessed to work with both of them and call them friends and supporters of the University.”
LaFoy said she enjoys working with her structural engineer husband on the projects. The two also have a busy home life in the Dallas area, with a daughter and a son pursuing a variety of sports, including cheerleading, hockey, baseball and softball. The LaFoys either coach or serve as assistant coaches for each team.
She also speaks at her children’s school about the engineering field. Going into classrooms for students of all ages reinforces why she gives back, especially to St. Mary’s.
“The reason is two-fold,” she said. “Thankfulness for the solid foundation St. Mary’s gave me, and also to give back for future generations so they have the same experience and opportunity I was given.”
