A&M–Central Texas Celebrates Years of Service

Above: Texas A&M University–Central Texas recognized 34 employees for service award anniversaries of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years. The recognition and award plaques were handed out at a special luncheon in their honor.

Texas A&M University–Central Texas celebrated on Wednesday by recognizing 34 employees for anniversaries, marking 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the university. Some of the recognized anniversaries dated prior to the university’s established date of 2009 when several current employees worked for the university’s legacy institutions.

A&M–Central Texas President Dr. Richard M. Rhodes quizzed the group on pop culture dating back to each of the 5-year increments. While the answers were sometimes humorous and generally wrong, it demonstrated that a lot has happened since the university was established, not the least of which has been to graduate nearly 13,000 students since 2009.

“We appreciate what you’ve done,” Rhodes said to the honorees. “In your years of service, you’ve created a legacy. It’s because of what you’ve done for our students that we’ve been successful.”

Rhodes said that as an upper-level university that relies on transfer students, a large portion of whom are military affiliated, it can be difficult to retain students, but the university continues to provide the support and services necessary to accommodate these individuals. He said because of that work, A&M–Central Texas has a rate of persistence-to-graduation that is 10% higher than the state average and 8% higher than the national average.

“You build the relationships that make them believe that belong here,” he said.

Those receiving recognition were:

5 Years of Service: Savannah Chester, Khaldoon Dhou, Shuyang Gu, Kimberly Kuklies, Alison Mathe, Dawn Riess, and Ankita Singhvi.

10 years of Service: Tammy Bracewell, Danielle Clouden, Michael Daley, Sara Dierk, Amber Dunai, Loida Gonzalez Utley, Steven Hill, Cadra McDaniel, Rebecca McPherson, Caroline Norris, Linh Pham, Richard Schilke, Amelia Smith, and Liana Taylor.

15 Years of Service: Barbara Altman, Bridgit McCafferty, Walter Murphy, Christopher Thron, Colleen Ward, and Lorrie Webb.

20 Years of Service: Kellie Cude, Courtney Dobbs, Jeffrey Kirk, and Melissa Steinmetz.25 Years of Service: Coady Lapierre and Claudia Rappaport.