{"id":73650,"date":"2022-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/12\/oral-history-project-ronnie-powell\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T14:26:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T19:26:06","slug":"oral-history-project-ronnie-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/12\/oral-history-project-ronnie-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"Oral history project: Ronnie Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\"><p>Ronnie Powell, longtime staff member of facilities management and planning and known about UNMC as &quot;The Mayor,&quot; in November 2021 completed an oral history interview that now been published by the Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library Special Collections and Archives.<\/p>\n<p>Powell, who recently announced plans to retire this August, has been at UNMC since 1976 and is known throughout campus for his friendliness, professionalism and collegiality.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/unmc.access.preservica.com\/index.php?name=SO_c334d019-6b7d-42cd-923b-b1ad60686fc9\" style=\"color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline\">Listen to Ronnie Powell&rsquo;s oral history interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In his interview last fall, Powell shared stories about the growth he has seen on the UNMC campus over the years. He also expressed his pride in the associate&nbsp;degree he earned while working full time. Powell also shared memories of&nbsp;growing up in North Omaha and the African American physicians and dentists who provided care to his community, as well as stories about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>His close-knit family. (Powell gave his mother credit for pushing him to apply at UNMC.)<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty he faced early on as an African American to move out of housekeeping and into a position requiring a skill set.&nbsp;(He had trained in refrigeration repair).<\/li>\n<li>His memories of &quot;saves&quot; over the years with refrigeration repair.<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;The meaningful support and mentorship he received from his managers and mentors during his career at UNMC.<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;His volunteer work with the elderly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Powell also is the first Black man hired in the facilities management department.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;At that time, nearly all people of color (at UNMC) worked in environment or food services,&quot; said Mary Haven, a retired associate dean of allied health professions who is among the many UNMC colleagues who call Powell a friend. UNMC&rsquo;s Minority Recruitment Committee worked with hospital administration to hire Powell.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He was the only person of color in that department for many years,&quot; Haven said. &quot;He was amazing. It is humbling to think of the comments and glances he would have to ignore each day.&nbsp;He was friendly and outgoing. His smiles would light the hallways.&nbsp; I congratulate him on his ability to make a most difficult journey seem routine.&nbsp;I am proud that he completed his degree and most proud to call him my friend.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Today, his colleagues in Facilities Management &amp; Planning are grateful to know and work with Powell.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Walsh, a zone facilities technician&nbsp;with FMP: &quot;Fifteen years ago, being the new guy on campus&nbsp;and not sure the location of your next job, I bumped into Ronnie Powell. He introduced himself, then took time out of his schedule and walked me to my next job. He said look for him if I get lost again (with that, Ronnie Powell laughed and smiled). Over the next 15 years, I made it a point to make him laugh every time I saw him. I can say Ronnie is a good man and a good friend.&nbsp;I wish him the best when he retires.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I met Ron when I started at UNMC in 1987,&quot; said Jim Gilbert, lead, facilities operation. &quot;He was working fulltime in the refrigeration shop and attending MCC (Metropolitan Community Collerge)&nbsp;for his associate&nbsp;degree in refrigeration. We became friends over the years both at work and personally. He has always had a great attitude and is always smiling. Always talking and ready to lend a hand, Ronnie is affectionately known around campus as &#39;The Mayor.&#39; Congrats on all your years of service, Ron, and have an awesome retirement.&quot;<\/p>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"\/secure-location.php\" style=\"display: none;\" title=\"JWF fu F WlGz wkQQfW Bvm   p\"><!-- JWF fu F WlGz wkQQfW Bvm   p --><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNMC &#8216;mayor&#8217; shares his reflections in the McGoogan Health Sciences Library&#8217;s latest oral history recording.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":73651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-facilities","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Oral history project: Ronnie 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