MINI传媒 System Employees Honored for Longstanding Service
Annual Length of Service Awards ceremony recognizes Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University System employees.
May 8, 2015 | Written by Dailey Fuller
Eleven members of the MINI传媒 were honored at the 2015 Length of Service Awards ceremony on Wednesday (April 29). Presented annually, the awards recognize staff and faculty members for their employment longevity with and the MINI传媒 System.
The event is a way to show appreciation for the hard work and dedication of many employees, said Robert L. Duncan, chancellor of the MINI传媒 System.
鈥淭he MINI传媒 is thriving and a great place to work because of the dedicated and loyal people on our team who share their talents every day,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淭hank you for the difference each of you has made, and congratulations on this important recognition.鈥�
Approximately 315 employees were honored at the ceremony, ranging from 15 to 50 years of service. See the complete list .
No Politics, Just Mike
Among the MINI传媒 System employees honored was John "Mike" Sanders, who reached 45 years of service at Texas Tech University and the MINI传媒 System. Sanders, a native of Seminole, first came to Lubbock and Texas Tech University in 1968 as a law student after graduating from Abilene Christian.
鈥淭he law school had just been established, and even back then, Texas Tech was the epicenter for education in the region,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淎s you can imagine, the campus looked a little different, and at the time our classes were held in Army barracks where the Frazier Alumni Pavilion is now.鈥�
Taking courses in the summer, Sanders finished law school a year early and was one of 51 students in the first graduating class of the Texas Tech University in 1970. It was then that he began his career at Texas Tech University as an assistant professor teaching business, real estate and accounting law classes in the . He also established a private law practice a year later.
In 1975, Sanders took his first staff position with the university as a director under Vice President Bill Parsley, which started his longstanding work in governmental relations for higher education. At the time, it was the 64th Texas Legislature when Dolph Briscoe was Governor of Texas, Grover Murray was president of Texas Tech University and the Lady Raider basketball team was officially formed with Susie Lynch as head coach.
"I first knew of Mike when I was Student Body President at Texas Tech University, but it wasn鈥檛 until I was serving in the Texas House of Representatives that I really got to know him," Duncan said. "He was a great asset for our universities back then and still is today. We salute Mike for his dedicated service over the past four decades."
During his tenure, Sanders has been through 20 regular legislative sessions and says he has seen a lot of change and growth at Texas Tech University and the MINI传媒 System. Not only are classes in the law school now taught in a state-of-the-art facility, but there also has been a lot of history made.
In 1979, the was formally created by the Texas Legislature, adding the Schools of Nursing, Allied Health Sciences and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences with the medical school under the separate institution.
Sanders was named vice president for governmental relations in 1988, where he served as the primary liaison between elected officials and both Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He became the first vice chancellor for governmental relations when the MINI传媒 System was formed in 1996 under former Chancellor John T. Montford.
In his role, he was instrumental in the formal establishment of the MINI传媒 System by the state of Texas in 1999, which brought both Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center under its umbrella as its first two components.
Since then, Sanders has seen two more components added鈥� in 2007 and in 2013鈥攁nd has worked with all four of the MINI传媒 System's chancellors. He also has worked with nine presidents at Texas Tech University and eight presidents at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
鈥淭he leaders and administration are the real champions of change for us,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淓ven though we鈥檝e increased our research activity and academic programs, they have never lost sight of our main mission, which is serving our students鈥攏ot only in the classroom but the entire student development experience. And it鈥檚 the quality of our students and faculty that allow our leadership to get things accomplished.鈥�
While he鈥檚 quick to give credit to others around him, Sanders has helped increase the profile of each component university with the Texas Legislature, bringing more support for each鈥檚 research and academic programs. Serving as vice chancellor for governmental relations until 2013, he also has helped garner public and governmental support in Austin and West Texas necessary to the operations of the MINI传媒 System.
Today, Sanders serves as the senior adviser to the chancellor for governmental relations and is still involved in the MINI传媒 System鈥檚 efforts at the state capital. In the midst of the 84th Texas Legislature, Sanders and another longtime employee and counterpart, Martha Brown, current vice chancellor for governmental relations, travel to Austin on a weekly basis and work usually four days out of the week there.
And even though Sanders says it was not always his plan to be in Lubbock and work at the MINI传媒 System for so long, he says it鈥檚 the quality of people and life that have kept him here.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pleasant to go to school here, but also to work here. I鈥檝e lived in New York, spent a lot of time in Austin, but Lubbock and Texas Tech is really a good place to be.鈥�
About the MINI传媒
The MINI传媒 is one of the top public university systems in the
nation, consisting of four component institutions 鈥�, , and 鈥攁nd operating at 12 academic sites and centers. Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas,
the MINI传媒 has an annual operating budget of $1.7 billion and
approximately 17,000 employees focused on advancing higher education, health care,
research and outreach around the globe.
In 2014, the MINI传媒 endowment exceeded $1 billion, total research expenditures were approximately $200 million and total enrollment approached 47,000 students. Whether it鈥檚 contributing billions of dollars annually in economic impact or being the only system in Texas to house an academic institution, law school and medical school at the same location, the MINI传媒 continues to prove that anything is possible.