The TCC TACHE chapter Constitution and By-Laws was approved on June 9, 2009, by TCC Latino faculty and staff present at a called meeting for this purpose. Elected at that meeting to serve as the inaugural TCC TACHE Board were Dr. Magdalena de la Teja, President (one-year term); Susie Carranza, Vice President/President-Elect (one-year term); Dr. Rosa Fuentes, Secretary (two-year term); Rosemarie Hammon, Membership Coordinator (one-year term); Pete Portillo, Treasurer (two-year term). Dr. Leonardo de la Garza, Chancellor of Tarrant County College, approved the formation of TCC TACHE. Dr. de la Teja presented the TCC TACHE Constitution and By-Laws for approval by the State TACHE Board of Directors at its June 26-27, 2009, meeting in San Antonio and approval was granted in July 2009.
The first meeting of the TCC TACHE Board of Directors was held on September 1, 2009, and Dr. de la Teja presented the board with a $200 check from the TACHE State Board of Directors as “seed” money for the new TCC TACHE Chapter. Treasurer Pete Portillo used the funds to open a TCC TACHE bank account with the Vice President/President-Elect as the other authorized signature. Dates for the TCC TACHE Board of Directors and general membership meetings were discussed and set. The TCC TACHE Board met with Interim Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley on September 22, 2009, to inform her of the formation of the chapter and to discuss the mission and purpose of TACHE.
The first general TCC TACHE meeting was held September 23, 2009. TCC TACHE held two general meetings in the fall and two in the spring with guest speakers Dr. Ricardo Coronado, Associate Vice Chancellor, Human Resources, who presented on the demographics of students and employees at TCC and Dr. Elva LeBlanc, TCC President, Northwest Campus, who spoke about leadership. Additionally, about ten Latino/a TCC faculty/staff and about 15 Latino/a TCC students attended the TACHE State Conference in San Antonio from February 17-20, 2010, and the TCC TACHE Board presented at the conference on how to start a chapter.
In May 2010, an election was held for the Membership Coordinator and Vice President/President-Elect positions for TCC TACHE, and Rosemarie Hammon (Membership) and Modesta Tollison (VP/President-Elect) were elected. Susie Carranza stepped in as President, and Dr. Magdalena de la Teja stayed on the board as Immediate Past President. To date, the TCC TACHE Board under Susie’s leadership has set board and general meetings for the fall. A general meeting was held on September 21, 2010, with Nydia Gonzalez, Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Diversity, speaking about “TCC Diversity 2015,” and a general meeting held November 3rd. TCC TACHE members in their capacity as TCC employees were also very involved in planning activities for Hispanic Heritage Month in the fall and a major event--the first “Abrazando al Exito” reception/program was held the evening of October 6, 2010, at which more than 150 Latino/a students, faculty, staff, administrators and other invited guests attended, including Chancellor Johnson Hadley.
TCC TACHE is committed to supporting the State TACHE mission to support the improvement of educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics in higher education.