Christy Hall, Former Secretary of the South Carolina Department of Transportation, was honored with the 2024 Glenn Department of Civil Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award. Christy is a 1994 alumnus of our department and holds numerous professional recognitions for her service to the profession and to the state of South Carolina, for which we are most appreciative!
Christy excelled in academic work in high school and college and initially planned to be a high school math teacher until she realized that teaching was not for her. As a result, she changed her major to Civil Engineering. After squeezing all her engineering coursework into two years, she graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering when very few women were entering the engineering field.
She was offered a position straight out of college with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. At SCDOT, she built strong working relationships in nearly every area of the agency, including Design, Maintenance, Construction, Program Management, Finance, and Procurement, all of which proved incredibly useful later in her career as the agency head.
In 2015, she became the first woman to serve as the Deputy Secretary for Engineering in the history of the SCDOT. After serving twice as Acting Secretary of Transportation, Governor Nikki Haley appointed her to the permanent role of Secretary of Transportation after witnessing her leadership in response to the historic 1000-year flood of 2015.
She has received many awards and recognitions. Her work with SCETV was nominated for an Emmy Award, and she has also received the state’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto, which was conferred upon her by Governor Nikki Haley.
In March of 2024, the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission chose to forever honor her dedication to the Department and to the State of South Carolina and designated the interchange of Interstate 20 and Interstate 26 in Columbia as the “Secretary of Transportation Christy A. Hall, P.E. Interchange” in recognition and acknowledgment of her impressive career.
It was our honor and privilege to present the 2024 Distinguished Alumni in Civil Engineering at Clemson University to Christy Hall. She epitomizes the fierce determination of a Tiger!
