Tennessee State University believes in celebrating the excellence of its faculty and staff, and it was no more evident than during the 24th annual Employee Recognition Awards Luncheon held on Tuesday, April 26. The yearly event provides special recognition to university employees for their years of service and to those who are retiring. TSU’s annual Employee Recognition Awards Luncheon program provides an opportunity to salute these colleagues for their time, talents and years of service to a great university.

Following greetings on the occasion by President Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, Ms. Betty Wade of the schools’ Human resources Department gave the Invocation. Lunch was served, during which the TSU Jazz Combo, directed by associate professor Dr. Sean Daniels, played music as delectable as the cuisine.

Dr. Johnanna Grimes gave her own very special reflections on behalf of her fellow retirees, noting “You were at a place you were supposed to be, and were doing the work you were supposed to do.”

The service awards program was created to provide special recognition to faculty and staff for their years of service to the university. Recognition was also paid to those who are retiring from the university. The annual luncheon acknowledged those employees who have served the university in increments of five years during the period of July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. The event, themed ‘Celebrating Excellence in Service,’ was held in the Jane E. Elliott Hall Auditorium (Women’s Building).

The retirees, whose service ends in 2016, included Ms. Pamela D. Ark, Dr. William Anneseley, Dr. Richard Banham, Mr. James Bass, Mr. Alonzo Beene, Ms. Sharon Bradley, Mr. Van A. Cain, Dr. Rucele Consigny, Mr. Thomas Davis, Ms. Loretta Divens, Ms. Mattie Emanuel, Dr. Ana Rueda-Garcia, Dr. Johnanna Grimes, Ms. Annie Harris, Ms. Carol Helton, Ms. Carolyn Hodison, Mr. Walter Hooks, Mr. Robert Hughes, Ms. Mary Johnson, Ms. Delores Johns, Mr. Michael W. Jones, Dr. Hoyt King, Ms. Deloris Modunkwu, Dr. William Perry, Mr. James A. Polk, Dr. Raymond Richardson, Dr. Sandra Scheick, Ms. Damita Sherron, Ms. Shirely Tyler, Ms. Betty Wade, and Ms. Deborah Wilson.

Service Awards were given for multiple years’ service in five year increments, as follows:

45 Years: Satinderpaul Devgan and Nebert Trobaugh.

40 Years: Peggy Earnest, Johnanna Grimes, Clinistine Malone, Nannette Martin, Romona Perry, and Roger Sauve.

35 Years: Judy Gentry, Valencia Howard, Lawrence James, Hoyt King, Govindaswamy Nagarajan.

30 Years: Mohammad Bodruzzaman, Diana Brown, Charles Dickens, Denise Dunbar, Walter Farmer, Nancy Henthorne, Abdallah Isa, Farouk Mishu, James Paxman, Louie Perry, and Xavier Shaw.

25 Years: Fitzroy Bullock, Sarah Campbell, Carl Hunter, Dhananjaya Marpaka, Shirley Miller, Festus Olorunniwo, Lucas Powers, Felita Smith, Eric Vogel, Deborah Wilson, and M. Saleh Zein-Sabatto.

20 Years: Shamsul Arefin, Carla Brown, Paulette Calhoun-Covington, Deborah Chisom, Jian-Hua Fan, Francis Fekel, Kothandaraman Ganesan, Cassandra Griggs, Valeria Matlock, Margaret Mmbaga, Darryl Nettles, Jewell Parham, Nathaniel Perry, Rosa Spurlock, Ramona Whitworth, Rita Williams-Seay, and Wosene Yefru.

Several dozen others were recognized for 5, 10 and 15 years of service.