The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District named Carol Carrasco as “Administrative Professional of the Year” during a ceremony recently, highlighting the essential role administrative professionals play to support the District's mission.
A seven-year veteran of the U.S. Army, Carrasco joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 2020. Recognized for her hard-charging attitude and ability to complete the difficult, she was selected as one of the first employees assigned to the Mega Projects Division (MPD) in early 2022. Since then, Carrasco has been responsible for supporting all hiring, onboarding, and training activities of the rapidly-growing, $4.3-billion Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay (S2G) Program. She’s currently flexing that experience to help stand-up the $34.4-billion Coastal Texas Project.
“Carol has proven irreplaceable to our organization,” said Dr. Kelly Burks-Copes, chief of the MPD Program Support. “Not only because of her elite professional work, but also as an advisor to me in the administrative and financial strategy of creating a new division,” Burks-Copes said. “She completes the difficult, unsung work of an administrative assistant with no reservations or want of recognition. We’d be lost without her!”
Carrasco was one of five candidates selected for her distinguished performance and outstanding meritorious service to the District. Other considered nominees included Amanda Crawford, Kelvin Harrison, Lisa Johnson, and Shari McDonald. The District observed Administrative Professional Week April 24 through 28 to honor those who do so many unseen tasks that support the District's mission on a daily basis.
"The success of our multimillion-dollar projects greatly depends on our highly-skilled and dedicated network of administrative professionals," said Galveston District Chief of Staff Eric Schourek. "Honoring their hard work is just one way of marking their achievements and importance to our district’s continued success,” he said.
“Carol expertly oversees the administrative leadership of the largest current Army Corps construction project,” said Lt. Col. Ian P. O'Sullivan, MPD Deputy Commander.
“Not only is she a highly-effective professional ensuring compliance with all government requirements, regulations, and policy for the S2G Project, she’s also our morale officer,” O’Sullivan said. “She organizes our social engagements and team building exercises, as well as our staff’s birthdates, retirements, baby showers, and other milestones,” O’Sullivan continued. “She’s even been known to bring in a homemade cake just to cheer us up. We’re lucky to have Carol as the lynchpin of our team.”
Administrative Professionals Week is observed annually in workplaces around the world to recognize the important contributions of administrative support staff and is one of the largest workplace observances.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer first proclaimed it as "National Secretaries Week," June 1-7, 1952, with Wednesday, June 4, 1952, designated as National Secretaries Day. The name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week in 1981 and became Administrative Professionals Week in 2000 because of the expanding responsibilities of those in administrative support positions.
The USACE Galveston District was established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements. The district is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 250 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates. Its main missions include navigation, ecosystem restoration, emergency management, flood risk management and regulatory oversight. The Galveston District also supports a robust Regulatory Program that interacts with the local community through a variety of public outreach opportunities.