Years of Service Celebrates Dedicated Faculty and Staff

By Anne-Marie Kent

Remember the old Cheers theme song: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name…”?

UMass Boston is a place where everybody knows just about everybody’s name. Why? So many UMass Boston employees have been here for so long, it’s easy to know who’s who.
To recognize employees’ years of service, members of the university community gathered in the Wheatley cafeteria on November 21 for the sixth annual Years of Service celebration. There, Chancellor Gora and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Beth Marshall honored a total of 149 employees, marking 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 years of service.

With all the changes that have taken place on campus during the past year, even newcomers can name countless alterations to the university: new signs, seating areas, planters, concerts, and even adjustments to the general education curriculum. Those honored for their years of service, however, have a special, long-term perspective on change at UMass Boston.

Among them are people who knew the best lunch spots on Huntington Ave. during the Boston State days, those who took the slow bus along Mass Ave. to the Park Square campus, and the folks who played racquetball in Wheatley and ordered beer at the Wit’s End. Many can remember yellow, pink, and blue carbon paper registration forms; row after row of long add/drop lines in the Clark Center gym; and the sleepy days before PowerPoint presentations, web discussion boards, and fully wired classrooms. They know the history of the university and have changed with it.

At the event, Chancellor Gora applauded the efforts of all employees: “We at UMass Boston are a community of individuals who create, through our ideas and actions, a first-rate learning experience for our students. Every one of you contributes to making our aspirations for this campus a reality, and our successes are the direct result of the talents and energy you bring to your work each day.”

Special recognition was given to the ten employees who marked 35 years of service at the university: Paul Bookbinder, Vendela Carlson, Antonio Carrara, Janet Duncan, Helen Kelley, Joan Lukas, Harold Mahon, Duncan Nelson, Wesley Tiffney, Jr., and Dennis Wortman.

Image: Employees celebrating 35 years of service with Chancellor Gora: (from left to right) Janet Duncan, Earth and Geographic Sciences; Helen Kelly, Computer Services; Joan Lukas, College of Arts and Sciences, and Vendela Carlson, Philosophy Department. Second Row: Gora and Antonio Carrarra, Modern Languages. Not pictured: Paul Bookbinder, Harold Mahon, Duncan Nelson, Wesley Tiffney, Jr., and Dennis Wortman. (Photo by Harry Brett)

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