TAPSS

History of TAPSS

Faceless Voices
On May 14, 1987, two secretaries, tired of working out details of projects with faceless voices on the telephone, decided to meet their fellow workers.

First Meetings
That first meeting of the Texas A&M University Association of Professional Support Staff, better known today at TAPSS, was held in a small, dim conference room in one of the oldest buildings on campus but the eleven people attending the meeting were enthusiastic. The agenda of the gathering was to discuss the possibility of creating an organization for university support staff.

The group scheduled a campus-wide meeting and started planning a newsletter. Using the official Campus Directory the group pulled together their first mailing list.

The response for the first campus-wide meeting was so overwhelming that the original meeting room was changed to one that could hold the 120 people attending. Committees were established; constitution and bylaws were hammered out. The first monthly newsletter was sent to over 600 personnel.

By November of 1987 an official name was chosen and officers installed.

First Annual Events
In 1991, the First Annual Professional Development Conference was held in the MSC/Rudder Complex. The First Annual Bosses Day Luncheon was also established that year.

The next year, 1992, TAPSS held the First Annual Secretaries Day Luncheon at the College Station Hilton. In 1996, it was renamed the Staff Appreciation Luncheon.

The first year that TAPSS held all three of these events - the Annual Professional Development Conference, the Bosses Day Luncheon, and the Secretaries Day Luncheon - was 1993.

Career Help
In 1995, the TAPSS CPS Professional Development Scholarship Committee was established to encourage and support individuals in obtaining the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) rating. The following year, 1996, the committee was renamed the Education and Professional Development Committee to cover a broader scope of staff development.

Staff Helping Staff, a TAPSS mentors program, was established in 1997.

With your help TAPSS will continue to grow! Join today!