Meet the Woman Overseeing Construction of Wichita’s Biomedical Campus

As a teenager, Stacy Christie was among thousands of people who gathered to watch the Allis Hotel implosion in downtown Wichita.

The site of the former hotel will now house the first phase of the Wichita Biomedical Campus, a $300 million project involving Wichita State University, the University of Kansas-Wichita School of Medicine and WSU Tech.

And Christie will oversee construction of the building as director of special projects for WSU Facilities Planning.

Christie spoke with The Range about the project, what drew her to architecture and how her career prospects changed when she became a mother.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tom Shine: Give me the simplified version of your role in building the biomedical campus?

Stacy Christie: I’m supervising the construction, but the building is also being designed. So I’m supervising the design and making sure that all the owners’ opinions are relevant. There’s both KU and Wichita State and WSU Tech. So I work for all of those institutions,

What is the biggest project you have worked on?

Absolutely.

So does this terrify you in any way?

Absolutely (laughs).

Let’s talk about it more.

I’ve worked on a lot of projects here in Wichita, and some outside of Wichita. But here in the Midwest, we don’t do a lot of big buildings; we have a lot of land. So the largest building I’ve worked on in terms of height is three stories. And in terms of square footage, I’ve done a lot of projects at Cessna and Spirit that were pretty big, but not with the complexity and the number of people and entities.

I think it’s fair to say that the construction world is male-dominated. You’ll obviously be evolving in that world. How does that work?

There are maybe 20 architects in Wichita (women) and about 200 men, so we are really outnumbered.

It’s a male-dominated industry. And not long ago, I even had a client tell me that he didn’t want women on his job site. And you know, “What? What?”

But for most of my career, I was the only woman and the youngest person in the room, and that intimidated me. But the more experience I’ve gotten, the less it bothers me.

And that’s actually something I really enjoy about this project. This is the first time I’ve worked for a woman. Emily Patterson (executive director of facilities planning at WSU) is one of my direct supervisors, and it’s a completely different environment.

And a lot of the people I collaborate with are women. It’s completely different from the experiences I’ve had.

What first attracted you to architecture?

Well, I took architecture in eighth grade… no, ninth grade. We took an art class that was about crafts and art. And before that, I always thought that I couldn’t really pursue an artistic career. I thought it was more of a fun thing, not something that I could make a living from. And then I took architecture.

I love architecture for its order. And I’m also the middle child in a big family. I love collaboration and I love bringing people together. I didn’t know that was a thing in architecture until I got to school… we have to do a lot. And you have to kind of be the peacemaker and help make decisions and get things done.

Were you a kid who loved Legos as a kid? Or were you more of an artistic kid as a kid?

I would say both. … I played with Legos. But I liked building houses or Barbie furniture, or whatever. We made them with cardboard or whatever we needed. … I like that tactile and practical side that also drew me to architecture.

I’m still a Lego fan. I was just looking at it the other day. I thought, “We should probably get rid of some Legos.” I have 8-year-old twins and I have way too many Legos.

Your dream job was baseball scout. Why?

I’ve always loved baseball… The Shockers won the World Series when I was in second grade. And we used to go to a lot of games when we were younger, and then the NBC tournament. I’ve done (Baseball Around the Clock) more than once. I grew up doing it. I’m excited they’re bringing it back this year, actually.

I read that you participated in roller derby. What was your nickname?

Threshing.

And why did you participate in roller derby?

One of my co-workers was doing it. And everybody was laughing because she was doing it because she was a little petite girl. And I’m not a little petite girl. They were like, “You should do that, Stacy.” I was like, “I’m not going to do that.” But then I went to practice. And I hadn’t skated since I was a little girl. And I fell on my butt more than once.

But it was really fun being around all these women… And then I got pretty fit. I did it for a year. And it was really fun.

I don’t skate anymore, which is sad for my kids. But it was fun to have an alternative ego.

Do (your kids) know that mom is working on this big giant project?

Yes, that’s true. …And since I have kids, I think my career has changed a little bit, and I want to do projects that they can see and be a part of. Who knows, they might go to school one day.

But just the idea that if they’re living here in Wichita 50 years from now, they can still be proud of it because I was a part of it, and I really enjoyed it.

I want my children to be proud of me.