The Department announces the retirement of long-time administrative director Terry (Teresa) Trudeau. She has led the administrative staff of the Department for over 25 years ensuring the smooth operation of finance, personnel, and building operations among a myriad of other tasks.
Terry Rogers was hired by Department Chair Jack Ahern in 2000 to lead the staff in Hills North, Sheila Koczur and Sandi Potyrala. She quickly learned that this was no ordinary department but included a range of interesting personalities, creative students, and fun challenges. She helped the department with major events like the Department’s Centennial Celebration, New England Greenway Conferences, and fieldtrips to New York, Boston, and the Hudson River Valley. Technology changes included new computers and computer labs, printers, and plotters, and improved internet connections. The Department celebrated Terry’s marriage to her husband David and got used to a name change as she became Terry Trudeau. Terry helped spearhead the expansion of staff to include a new Communications positions with Evonne Gong that became essential as the department promoted its majors and accomplishments. Terry also oversaw an expansion in the Department’s research and creative outputs, which saw increases in research funding management, hiring, and budgeting.
Terry worked with five department chairs (i.e., Jack Ahern, Elizabeth Brabec, Elisabeth Infield, Robert Ryan, and Henry Renski) and many times, it seemed like she was training them about the University bureaucracy. After her many years in the Department and with her outgoing personality, Terry seemed to know someone in every department, from facilities maintenance to the Graduate School who could answer questions and help get something done that was needed. Terry was the building manager for Hills North, so she was often troubleshooting the challenges of an aging building, including getting offices painted, floods in the basement space and quirky storage areas in a building that used to be a dormitory.
Generations of students knew Terry as the person to go to find answers, or simply to find faculty in the days before cell phones. She helped create a fun and collegial office environment where birthdays and other life events were celebrated along with the accomplishments of our students, staff and faculty.
Terry also helped the Department during the upheavals of university reorganization, when LARP moved from the College of Food and Natural Resources to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Terry was instrumental serving on the Design Building Committee where her long expertise in building management was essential in helping the Committee accommodate the range of building needs and functions. She also has served on other important committees, such as the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) Dean’s Staff Advisory Committee. When we moved into our new home, the John W. Olver Design Building, Terry was in charge of making sure the move went smoothly coordinating with moving services and helping us move out of Hills North which had been our home for decades. The Design Building is a wonderful modern space, but as with all buildings, there are issues that arise that Terry helped to address with the help of the rest of the staff and Evan Janes, the shop manager.
Many students remember their wonderful graduations in Durfee Garden. Terry and the staff were instrumental in making sure these events ran smoothly and elegantly, handling a myriad of behind-the-scenes issues like catering orders, space reservations, and graduation certificates and awards. Terry helped foster the close-knit community of the department through her dedication. She will be very missed, but we wish her all the best in a well-deserved retirement.
Announcement written by Robert Ryan, PhD (Professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning and former Department Chair)