Tina Burton Honored with Tri-County’s Presidential Staff Medallion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 13, 2020
CONTACT: Lisa Garrett, lgarrett@tctc.edu
By Lisa Garrett
Tina Burton Honored with Tri-County’s Presidential Staff Medallion
PENDLETON --- Tina Burton earned the highest award given to staff at Tri-County Technical College at an annual fall convocation.
Burton, who serves as recruitment support specialist and campus visit coordinator for the College’s recruitment, admissions and orientation department, received the Presidential Medallion for Staff Excellence. President Galen DeHay presented her the medallion.
“Tina Burton epitomizes the TCTC Vision Statement. Her passion for our students and for TCTC’s mission in serving our community is evident in everything that she does,” said Jenni Creamer, assistant vice president for college transitions, at the College.
“She knows the difference between a transaction and an interaction and seeks to promote our I-CARE standards in every encounter with prospective students, community members, enrolled students and fellow employees,” added Creamer.
“Tina defines what it means to be a servant leader. She works tirelessly to serve not only our students, but her colleagues. Members of our team actively seek her advice and guidance because of her experience and know-how. Words cannot describe how thrilled I am for Tina to receive this deserving award,” said Tiffany Blackwell, director of recruitment, admissions and orientation.
Burton joined the College in 2010 as an administrative specialist for the Information Center and continued to successfully grow into new positons and new responsibilities. “During her time at TCTC, she has been a part of significant departmental and institutional changes and is always quick to adapt, focus on the positive, address any challenges head-on, and actively leads and supports her team in embracing the changes. She is a model employee: dependable, consistent, passionate, and seeks to continuously improve herself and her work,” said Creamer.
In 2017, Burton was part of a TC Central development team that was nominated for the A. Wade Martin Team Innovation Award.
In its continuing commitment to serve under-resourced, first-generation, and post-traditional students, a team of employees representing admissions, financial aid, student records, advising, and community campuses came together with a commitment to focus entirely on the student experience rather than office processes and procedures.
As a part of that work, Burton, along with her colleagues, works to ensure that the College keeps the student at the center of every interaction by providing a comfortable first and ongoing connection point for students that uses the ‘student lens’ instead of focusing on the ‘office lens.’ “She continues to lead the expansion and development of our campus visit experiences and is passionate about ensuring every campus visitor has a positive and authentic TCTC experience,” said Creamer.
Burton is a 1994 graduate of Tri-County’s office systems technology program (now administrative office technology) and previously served on the College’s Alumni Association board of directors.
Following graduation she worked in the admissions office as an administrative specialist from 1995 – 98. She was a stay-at-home mom for nine years before returning to the workforce in 2007 as a part-time rural carrier associate for the Anderson Post Office. She returned to Tri-County in 2010.
Burton, a first-generation college student, reflected on her decision to attend Tri-County in 1991. She chose the university transfer program but says after a year, “I hit a brick wall. I needed to find my own path,” she said
Burton credits former math instructor/advisor Robin Pepper who “took the time to help me determine which program was best for me. If not for that, I may have dropped out,” she said. Burton chose the administrative office technology program and graduated as the program’s outstanding student. “I found my niche. I love working at Tri-County. I always say in order to promote something you need to believe in it. I believe in Tri-County. My husband and my daughter are Tri-County graduates and our son, who accumulated 12 dual enrollment credits, is a student this fall. We are a Tri-County family.”
She and her husband, Richard, have three children. They live in Anderson.
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About Tri-County Technical College
Tri-County Technical College, a public two-year community and technical college serving Anderson, Oconee and Pickens Counties in South Carolina, enrolls more than 9,000 students annually and offers more than 70 major fields of study, including computer technology, industrial electronics, mechatronics, nursing, and university transfer programs. Tri-County boasts the highest student success rate among two-year colleges in the state and ranks in the top one percent nationally for successful student transfers to four-year colleges and universities.
