Duke Facilities Management Honors Career Service Milestones

After pandemic hiatus, in-person celebration of employee contributions returns

John Noonan and Asia Hicks
Duke Vice President for Facilities John Noonan greets University Environmental Services Operations Manager Asia Hicks during last week's ceremony. Photo by Stephen Schramm.

John Noonan, Duke Vice President for Facilities, has been overseeing Duke Facilities Management since 2005. But at last week’s ceremony celebrating team members’ career service milestones, Noonan said he continues to be amazed by the experienced group Duke Facilities Management has.

A total of 86 Duke Facilities Management employees will hit milestones of five-to-35 years of service this year. Among those, 26 team members will mark 20-or-more years of service. All told, the group of 86 employees has a combined 1,280 years of experience at Duke.

Many of those team members were on hand Monday, September 11 at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens’ Doris Duke Center for a luncheon celebrating their accomplishments.

Duke Vice President for Facilities John Noonan congratulates Sanitation Supervisor Bernard Harris during last week's ceremony. Photo by Stephen Schramm.

“I think that kind of experience is highly valuable regardless of the field that it’s in,” Noonan said of the group. “If you’re a housekeeper and you not only know your building, but 10 other buildings, or if you’re an electrician and you’re familiar with several buildings, the totality of that experience is great to have. And the fact that they choose to stay at Duke is tremendous for Duke.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathering for a luncheon to celebrate career service milestones was an annual tradition for Duke Facilities Management. But with COVID-19 making gatherings difficult in recent years, employees were celebrated in less prominent ways, often with Duke Facilities Management leaders visiting individuals at their workspaces.

But Monday marked a welcome return to the larger, in-person ceremony.

“It was refreshing being able to see everybody in the same space, it has been quite some time since we’ve been able to do that,” said University Environmental Services Operations Manager Asia Hicks, who was celebrating her five-year career service milestone. “It was a pleasure engaging with everyone in person. Many of my staff were able to see coworkers that they haven’t seen recently and catch up. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event and the genuine camaraderie.”

At last week’s ceremony, over 30 of the employees celebrating milestones, along with their supervisors, were on hand.

“I want to thank you for the work that you do,” Noonan told the group. “It allows Duke to be the top university that it is, and helps Duke achieve its missions.”

Attendees celebrating five or 10 years with Duke Facilities Management were, from left to right, Asia Hicks, Peter Fowler, Blake Fox, Fatima Valdovinos, Bernard Harris, Pamela Bell-Jones, Randall Thompson, Heidy Jaramillo, Gary Green, John Garrard, LaToya Speed, Frank Gentile and Shynese Henderson.

Attendees celebrating 15 years with Duke Facilities Management were, from left to right, Stephanie Jones, Beverly Jordan, Scott Thompson, Jackie Little, Michael Harris, Roger Conner, David Grizzle and Paul Westray.

Attendees celebrating 25, 30 and 35 years with Duke Facilities Management were, from left to right, Larry Jackson, Dwight Jeffries, Kelvin McCoy, Travis Lewis, William McKnight, Reid Babinec, Angela Hargrove and Ezara Doles.

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