Employees honored for long tenures at UNMC

Karen Dulany, left, and Edward Salinas, right, two of the five employees who marked 40 years of service at UNMC in 2008, with UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., who celebrates 15 years at the medical center this year. Not pictured are 40-year employees Lawrence Higgins, Carla Gaul and Elaine Ryan.

In 1968, gasoline sold for 28 cents per gallon, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy shocked the country and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series.

Also in 1968, Dr. Cecil Wittson became the first UNMC chancellor as the medical center became a separate campus in the University of Nebraska system.

At UNMC’s annual service awards dinner, which was held last month in Omaha, five current medical center employees who witnessed Dr. Wittson’s first year as chancellor were honored for 40 years of service to the medical center.

Those five employees were Lawrence Higgins and Edward Salinas of facilities management and planning, Carla Gaul and Elaine Ryan of the department of internal medicine and Karen Dulany of the Eppley Institute.

From left: Teresa Hailey of the College of Dentistry and Debra Ann Flearl of the College of Nursing each were honored for 25 years of service to UNMC.

UNeMed’s Michael Dixon, with his wife, MMI occupational therapist Holly Dixon, at the annual service awards dinner. Michael Dixon was honored for his 10 years of service at the medical center.

From left: Kathy Carlson and Sheila Wrobel of the compliance office at the service awards dinner. Carlson was honored for 35 years of service to UNMC.

This was the second-straight year UNMC honored five employees for 40 years of service.

They joined more than 300 UNMC workers who were lauded during the dinner — during which employees celebrating tenures of service in five-year increments were thanked for their efforts. Among those who celebrated such a milestone was UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., who marks his 15th year on campus in 2008.

Also recognized were 25 UNMC employees who had retired since May 2007.

“This event provides a chance to say ‘thank you’ to and to be thankful for the hundreds of employees at UNMC, who every day live a commitment to UNMC’s mission of health care, research, education and service to underserved populations,” said John Russell, assistant vice chancellor for human resources. “Your work contributes to the improved health of Nebraskans.”

Click here to see a list of all employees recognized during the dinner.