After serving as the administrative secretary in the nursing department for the last 16 years, Diana Hall decided to retire from Contra Costa College in June.

“Working in the nursing program has been very satisfying,” administrative secretary Hall said. “I enjoy my great faculty and our wonderful registered nursing and nursing assistant students. We have the most cooperative and supportive staff, faculty and management.”

Hall said she started her career a CCC as a student worker in 1990. Then she got hired as an hourly worker for staff development beginning in 1994.

In 2000 she transitioned to the nursing department as an hourly classified worker.  She was permanently hired as an administrative secretary in June 2002.

She said the biggest obstacle in the nursing program was to discover what was required in the job and how it was accomplished.

“Dianna is always busy helping students and answering phone calls when students or faculty need her help,” nursing department Chairperson Cheri Etheredge said. “She gets interrupted at least 25 times a day and she takes it all in a stride.

Etheredge said as an administrative secretary in the nursing department, Hall performs a full range of duties for students and faculty in the nursing department.

“She is the go-to person for full-time faculty, part-time faculty and students when anyone has a question,” she said.

She said several questions students ask Hall about are the prerequisites for the nursing program and if students have completed the hospital requirement so they can start their clinical rotation. 

The other question students ask concerns the Nursing Lottery Results, as they try to figure what number are they on the lottery list for admission to the program. Faculty often ask Hall if a piece of equipment for the nursing program got ordered for the skills lab, Etheredge said.

She said that’s what Hall has been doing for the last 16 years at the college. “Not only has she done her job, but she has done it with grace and kindness,” she said. “She is calm, reassuring and makes you feel that your problem is the only problem in the world.”

Nursing professor Maryanne Werner-McCullough said she can’t imagine what the nursing department will be like after Hall retires.

“Diana Hall has been the glue holding faculty and students together,” she said. “ She is a dedicated nursing assistant. When she helps a student nothing else matters. She’s been so gracious and welcoming. I am sorry to see her go.”

Werner-McCullough said the retirement reception, which is a retirement party honoring retired faculty, was hosted on May 6 at 3 p.m. and it gave faculty and invited guests a chance to say goodbye to Hall and other retiring faculty at Contra Costa College.

Etheredge, who spoke on behalf of Hall at the retirement party said she tried to convey how Hall’s performance has helped students and staff by asking a number of students and faculty to give her their thoughts about Hall.

“One student response said (Hall) provides a quick response to any question and that she is nurturing and a fundamental part of the (nursing) program,” she said.

Her favorite response from the sources she gathered, she said, was from a nursing student who wrote, “She is like the leg bone in the body which connects to the hip bone and keeps everything moving.”

She also asked several faculty members to sum up Hall and one of the faculty responses said Hall focuses on students and she is dedicated to the nursing department.