HCC Employee Service Awards is a celebration of ideals
Aug 22, 2016
The Bayou City Event Center became the stage of a celebration of commitment and dedication by Houston Community College (HCC) employees who completed up to 40 years of service with the institution.
“Millennials are expected to stay in a job for less than three years,” said Dr. Cesar Maldonado, HCC chancellor. “That is 15 to 20 jobs over the course of their working lives.”
That is not the case however, for many outstanding members of the HCC family who made their work a mission. They were celebrated for it during the HCC Employee Service Awards. Dr. Nora Jo Sherman, recipient of a 40-year service recognition and professor of Business Administration, saw the birth of HCC.
“I remember being part of a committee that decided it was necessary to start a community college to bridge the gap between high school and college. I am so proud to be part of the achievements of this institution,” said Dr. Sherman who became a pioneer of the Distance Education program, which we know today as HCC Online.
For Rosalva Perez, director of the Dental Assisting program at Coleman College for Health Sciences and mother of two grown daughters, the balance she found at HCC to achieve her personal and professional goals was key in completing 30 years of service
“I raised my family at HCC. I was able to raise my kids here. It has been a wonderful family oriented institution that understood the responsibilities of a parent,” said Perez. “When I needed to be with my children I was allowed to do so.“
During the ceremony employees who completed 40 and 35 years of service received a certificate of recognition and also an opportunity to travel down memory lane.
“When I started, my technical equipment was a typewriter. We did not have computers. It is amazing how things have changed in the last decades,” said Dr. Aubrey Tucker, who recently retired from his position as Music Business Coordinator, after more than 30 years at HCC.
Putting technical equipment aside, Tucker recognized that his biggest satisfaction has been seeing how his work has impacted the lives of young students.
“The part of the culture at HCC that has made me stay for three decades is the students. It has been wonderful to see the diversity in the student body and the opportunity help them in their college years,” he said.
HCC employees who completed 25, 20, 15, and 5 years of service were also recognized.