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____________________________________________________________________ Volume 6; Issue 2 February/March 2003 |
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** Administrator Visit **
First and Second Decades |
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_____________________________________________________________________ Rodger Mingo Says "Adieo" to Government By Stan Ciurczak _____________________________________________________________________ |
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The
oldest of seven children, Mr. Mingo has six children and three
grandchildren. He and his
wife, Sandra, have been married for 35 years. A true gentleman and a Tech
Center icon, the Atlantic City native is well known for his interests in
aviation, military history, and classic sports cars.
Just
about everyone at the Tech Center and in the FAA community seems to know
Mr. Mingo, either personally or professionally.
A man of color who began his career when there were few other
people of color working at the Center, he hoped, and continues to hope,
that when people see that your differences do not matter, they will be
accepting of each other. He
became, and is, a staunch and vocal advocate for Diversity, EEO, Human
Resource management and the Model Work Environment.
"Am I treated fairly is all
that matters. If I'm not,
then it's all that matters," said Mr. Mingo. The
former program manager for Diversity for the Technical Center also served
in numerous other positions, including four in management.
He spent his early years doing process control functions and
developing schedule processes for the computer labs that ran the Air
Traffic Control displays. Hired
as a simulation operator in 1960, Mr. Mingo moved on to computers in 1961.
He worked on the IBM 1401, 7090 and 9020. He continued to work in computer
operations for more than a decade. He
began as a operator and later moved to shift supervisor, when the Center
had an IBM 9020 (three IBM 360s hooked up together).
Later he became a computer specialist and then accepted the
responsibility of managing 72 people and all IBM 360 operations in four
separate computer rooms. He
also performed collateral duties as a civil rights investigator. His
career took a turn in 1979, when he was promoted to EEO specialist.
He became the manager of the Civil Rights Staff (ACT-9) in 1981 and
stayed in that position until 1986.
Larry
Williams made Mr. Mingo the division manager of the Human Resource
Management Division (ACT-10) in 1986, where he stayed until 1993.
It was then that he became the founding program manager for
Diversity in the Office of the Center Director (ACT-1A). In this position,
he developed the Diversity and Model Work Environment programs, and
disseminated them throughout the Center and Washington. Among
the many awards he received over his long and distinguished career, were
the ARA EEO Excellence Award (1994) and the Technical Center's John C.
Carroll Memorial EEO Award (1994). This
was a special honor for Mr. Mingo because he succeeded John Carroll as the
Center's civil rights officer. During
his career, Mr. Mingo initiated, championed, or developed many programs,
of which he is justifiably proud. These
include the Black History Program, several Combined Federal Campaigns, the
Change Agent (Human Relations) program, the Day Care Center, the Diversity
program, the Ethnic (International) Day Program, numerous Model Work
Environment efforts, the SOAR program (to address under-representation of
women in leadership roles) and the Wellness (Physical Fitness) Facility.
He also established the "Chevalier de la Table Ronde” (Knights of the Round Table)
French club at the Tech Center. Mr. Mingo was the first and, to date, the only diversity program manger at the Technical Center, which is the only FAA facility to have a full-time person in that position. The
next time you pass through the Atrium and look up at the Twin Comanche
"B," think of Mr. Mingo. Along
with Nelson Miller, Gary Poulsen and Tom Flatley, he worked to acquire,
disassemble, paint and reassemble the aircraft.
The plane went on permanent display in 1988, but long after he is
gone, that plane will hang in that special space to remind all who enter
the Center of the aviation work that goes on here every day. A
large number of family, friends and managers made their way to the podium,
at the retirement luncheon, to pay tribute to Rodger. Viola Gray honored Mr. Mingo with the following poem: RODGER'S
LEAVING US By
Viola H. Gray Rodger,
Suave and Debonair With
a Cocky Swagger He's
Adopted a Parisian Flair Though
Some May Think That
is Anew I'd
Seen it Awhile It
Had Always Shone Through His
Hats Are Worn with Always A
Touch of Class Ever
the Gentleman His
Comments Are Never Crass For
Oh So Many a Year Diversity's
Been His Game With
Our Darling Rodger Leaving The
Tech Center Will Never Be the Same Terry DiPompo, the program director for Human Capital Strategies (ACH-1), perhaps said it best when she presented Mr. Mingo a plaque that reads, "Thank you for 43 years of dedication, wisdom and friendship. You have touched the lives of thousands."
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