2008 DesJardins Leadership Award goes to Cherie Maas-Anderson
Dr. Linda Gerber with Cherie Maas-Anderson
The mission of the Oregon Chapter of the American Association for Women in Community Colleges is to inspire, champion, and celebrate the talents within each of us. To recognize and celebrate this mission, the AAWCC Board of Directors recognizes one person in our state who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and made a significant contribution.
The DesJardins Leadership Award is named for Dr. Carolyn DesJardins', whose career included twenty-six years in the Maricopa Community College District. She was the recipient of numerous awards and honors but her greatest reward was knowing that over 3000 women and many men saw their lives enriched, enabled, and changed forever through the programs, scholarships, articles, and presentations she sponsored or made, as well as through her powerful hugs, deep caring, and strong advocacy for all of us to be the very best we could be.
The Oregon Chapter of AAWCC honors Dr DesJardin’s legacy by presenting this award each year, to someone who has demonstrated the ability to inspire, champion, or celebrate women as leaders.
Julie Huckestein , 2007 DesJardins recipient, presented Cherie with her award at the 2008 Fall Conference. Cherie's nomination included support from staff across the Portland Community College district:
Cherie Maas, a 21 year employee of Portland Community College (PCC) is a beloved, respected, and admired leader in our college. She made and continues to make a huge difference in our college community and in other community colleges.
At PCC, Cherie has been a Service District Liaison, a Hazardous Materials Clerk, an Employee Relations Assistant, a Budget Operations Asst., an Administrative Assistant and an Operations Manager at the college. She is known to be intelligent, dedicated, innovative, and a lot of fun.
But Cherie doesn’t limit her contributions to her job position. She holds many other positions of responsibility in addition to her job at PCC, evidenced by the list of committees and Boards that she serves on.
One of Cherie’s earliest PCC committee assignments was on the Ross Island Bathroom Remodel committee where due to her significant contributions, she was granted the first flush.
Since her flush, Cherie’s contributions and accomplishments have grown multifold. She currently serves on the following committees and boards:
- State AAWCC Board: VP of Finance
- Community College Humanities Association (CCHA), Pacific-Western Division: Operations manager
- District President’s budget planning advisory committee: member
- PCC – AAWCC Chapter: Board President
- Staff Development District Grant Review Committee: member
- JCIB: Joint Committee on Insured Benefits: member
- Compensation Reclassification Committee: member
In the past she has served as a Union VP, Grievance Officer and on the bargaining committee. She has been on search committees for Division Deans, on an Educational Reform research committee, a Compensation Review Committee, the Black United Fund and United Way committees and a campus grand opening committee and the list goes on.
Here’s what some of her current committee colleagues have to say about her contributions:
"Cherie Maas has been a strong advocate for women at Portland Community College for many years. In addition to her stalwart and imaginative support of the PCC Chapter of the Oregon Women in Community Colleges, she has been a strong voice on PCC's Budget and Strategic Planning Committee. Her voice speaks for the needs of our students and provides a common-sense approach to problems that impact the college. She has a refreshing ability to marry what she's learned over the years with a realistic optimism. The result is always thoughtful and insightful...and often presented with a gleeful sense of humor. Cherie is a treasure to Portland Community College and we are pleased that she is being recognized today." - Linda Gerber, Sylvania Campus President
"Cherie Maas is one of the most valuable members of our Staff Development District Grant Review Committee. She brings to the table a sharp eye for detail, an analytical mind, and keen diplomacy skills. However what has impressed me most about Cherie has been her ability to put aside her professional affiliations and/or loyalties to weigh all sides of an issue and bring an impartial, objective perspective to any issue under discussion. I also know that I can trust her to give me an honest, direct, unambiguous opinion at times when others may choose to straddle the fence on an issue. She is not afraid to say what she thinks and to stand by her decisions - all while making sure she has her facts lined up and can support her stance. These are the most valuable qualities that she brings to our group and I think they go far in making her an outstanding candidate for a leadership award." - Linda Blanchette, Staff & Organizational Development Facilitator
"Cherie is a true leader on the PCC AAWCC board. She has vision and works hard to make that vision a reality. Great things are happening in our chapter because of her leadership: our savings are up, we’ve published two cookbooks, we’ve sponsored scholarships to the state conferences and OLID, and we have a year of activities planned for the women of PCC." - Karen Sorensen, Web Development
"Cherie Maas is the Operations Manager for the Community College Humanities Association (CCHA), Pacific-Western Division. She manages the budget and the registration for regional conferences, and she takes care of a million little details that go into running a conference. She is a logistical master, who always finds a more efficient, effective, and cost-expedient way to do something than how we've always done it. She has also helped with registration at national conferences for the last five years. Our National Director, David Berry, admires Cherie's work and appreciates her contributions to the organization.
Personal connection: Six years ago, I was walking by Cherie's desk, feeling absolutely overwhelmed by CCHA conference logistics. In the most mild-mannered, unassuming way, she said, "You know, I can help you with that. It's really not a big deal." I said, "Really? You're kidding?(!)" That started our leadership relationship, and I have learned more from Cherie about how to run an event than I could have imagined.
Recently, she's also taught me a lot about babies and mommyhood. She's humble, but her prowess appears in the products of her work. She is a loving mother, a blushing newlywed, a great cook, a "green thumb" gardener, a devoted friend, and a dedicated employee of Portland Community College. She works and plays hard, and she rarely slows down!" - Jane Zunkel, Faculty
Cherie is an exemplary in her service to CCHA. She is a problem-solver - pays attention to detail - and gives 110 percent every time. You cannot fail to reward her achievements. - David Berry, CCHA National Director
"Since joining PCC three years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Cherie in a number of settings. Cherie is a member of the college’s Joint Committee on Insured Benefits (JCIB), along with representing the Federation during classified contractual job reviews and other management/labor interactions. In addition, with Cherie’s encouragement, I submitted recipes to the first AAWCC PCC cookbook.
I’ve always appreciated Cherie’s candor, insight and humor, some topics lending themselves more to humor than others, of course. Cherie has always shown a balance in perspective, assessing situations on their merit. I appreciate Cherie’s drive and energy. It seems that nothing can’t be done when Cherie’s involved.
Finally, after being here a short while, Cherie ran into me at SY CC. At that point we’d encountered each other a number of times in a number of settings. We only spoke for a minute, but she told me she was glad I’d come to PCC. It was nice to know that she felt I was making a difference. I felt welcomed." - Ann Baynton, HR Manager
Previous winners of the Carolyn DesJardins Leadership Award also include: Angela McMahon, Carol Schaafsma, Terri Johanson, Brenda Brecke, Carolyn DesJardins, Nikki Harrington, Alice Jacobson, Marcia Keith, Rebecca Kenney, Dan Moriarity, Mary Spilde, Stephanie Sussman, Gretchen Schuette, and Nan Poppe.