Shante Hastings, Preston Lee among engineers honored

Two Sussex County engineers are among three recently honored by the Delaware Engineering Society. 

Lewes Board of Public Works board member D. Preston Lee Jr. was named Engineer of the Year; Delaware Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Shante Hastings of Millsboro was named Government Engineer of the Year; and Breanna Kovach of New Castle County was named Young Engineer of the Year. The honorees are nominated by those in the engineering industry in the state of Delaware and are selected by the past presidents.

Lee is a native Delawarean who has lived and practiced in the state his entire career. He attended Salesianum High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1969 from the University of Delaware. He worked for the Delaware Water and Air Resources Commission, and later at the consulting engineering firm VanDemark & Lynch Inc., where he reviewed permit applications and worked on utility design. He then joined Edward H. Richardson Associates, focusing on designing water and wastewater facilities in multiple states, obtaining engineering licenses along the way. In 1975, he co-founded Tatman & Lee Associates, which became a successful civil engineering firm known for innovative wastewater treatment systems. After several accolades, the firm was acquired by Woodward-Clyde Consultants and later by URS Corporation, where Lee served as vice president. He semi-retired in 2001 to focus on project management and engineering through his own business, notably managing the Southern Sewer Service Area Project for New Castle County.

He served 15 years as board member of the American Consulting Engineers Council Delaware Chapter, now known as the American Council of Engineering Companies, including two terms as chapter president and two terms as national director. For several years, he served on the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers’ Law Enforcement and Ethics Committee. He has also remained a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers for the past 56 years.

In 2011, he was elected to the Lewes Board of Public Works. He has served in various positions, including four years as board president. Since 2004, he has served as a trustee and property committee chair of the Children’s Beach House Foundation in Lewes. The foundation was established in 1936 by Lydia Chichester du Pont to serve children with special needs. Over the past 20 years, Lee has also served eight years on the Lewes Parks and Recreation Commission, Lewes Historical Society board of trustees and the Lightship Overfalls Foundation board of directors.

Hastings is the deputy secretary/chief engineer for DelDOT, where she has worked since graduating from the University of Delaware in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Hastings is responsible for implementation of DelDOT’s $650 million annual Capital Transportation Program delivered by her team of 450 staff members. She also serves as the secretary’s designee on national policy issues and is DelDOT’s liaison with the Federal Highway Administration.

In 2013, Hastings earned the Young Engineer of the Year Award from the Delaware Engineering Society in recognition of her work in the field of engineering and community service. She currently serves on the boards for Leadership Delaware, the Delaware State Fair and the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation. 

She has enjoyed staying involved with her alma mater. She is a past president of the University of Delaware Alumni Association and currently serves as vice president of the University of Delaware Kent and Sussex Counties Alumni Club. She is a proud member of Sigma Kappa sorority and has stayed active as a chapter advisor. She also enjoys singing in the Grace United Methodist Church Praise Band. She and her husband Jason live in Millsboro with their daughters Lilly and Maya.

Kovach is a group engineer with the Project Development North section at DelDOT. She graduated with honors from Temple University with her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2011 and began her career at DelDOT working as a project engineer. In 2016, she became a registered professional engineer and was promoted to project manager. She later obtained a master’s degree from Wilmington University with a concentration in organizational leadership, and was promoted to group engineer in 2018.

She served on the board of directors for the American Society of Highway Engineers, First State Section from 2018-23, serving as president from June 2021 to June 2022.