For Allie (Harris) Millikan (B.S. ’19 industrial engineering, concurrent MBA ’19), the industrial engineering (IE) road led from Cyclone Nation to Magic Kingdom.
Even though she grew up in a family of industrial engineers, she wasn’t sold on in pursuing it for herself. Hearing “Industrial engineers can work at Disney” changed her mind.
“I have such incredible memories from our family Disney trips growing up. I couldn’t imagine a more magical place to work,” she says.
Almost ten years later, she has her Walt Disney World dream job.
While the job looks different every day, the primary focus is optimizing the Guest experience. “My goal is to make sure our Guests can have the best day possible when they visit the Magic Kingdom,” says Millikan.
At Disney, the industrial engineering department operates as internal consultants supporting all lines of business in the company: theme parks, resorts, cruise lines, and distribution centers for merchandise, food and beverage, and general supplies to all four parks.
“IEs have the opportunity to rotate and grow within the IE department, supporting many of these lines of business as they go,” she says.
In her first full-time job post-graduation, Millikan worked at Disney as associate industrial engineer supporting distribution centers, providing merchandise, food and beverage, and general supplies to all four parks, the resorts, and the cruise line. When promoted to industrial engineer, she supported the food and beverage operation for two of the four parks.
Her move to Magic Kingdom as senior industrial engineer happened two and a half years ago, and earlier this year, she became industrial engineering project manager of Park Operations.
Millikan believes Iowa State and the IMSE department played an important role in her current success. While going to school, Millikan had six internships at four companies, spent a full semester studying abroad, took two spring break trips abroad, and was a campus tour guide, active WiSE member, member of the Greek community, and in multiple other clubs and organizations.
“Every single class, internship, trip, and club helped shape me into the industrial engineer I am today, and I’m thankful I was given the freedom and support from the IMSE department to not just become another industrial engineer, but to become the industrial engineer I wanted to be,” she says.
Millikan’s most recent magic making? She supported logistics for the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, an exciting new water ride with a 50-foot plunge, that opened at the end of June. Last year, she did the same for the TRON Lightcycle Run – “a high-speed adventure, racing against the Grid’s most menacing Programs” and one of the fastest Disney coasters in the world.
“Every day when I walk into work I get to see a castle, and I regularly hear parades and fireworks from my office. It’s surreal to remind myself this is my job,” says Millikan. “Getting to see the impact our work has on our Guests is the most rewarding part of the job for me.”
At the end of May this year, she married IE alum, John “Jack” Millikan (B.S. ’19 industrial engineering, concurrent MBA ’19), adding one more to a family of industrial engineering graduates.
