Vickie Combs named HCTC New Horizon Award winner

HCTC Senior Director of Human Resources Vickie Combs is honored as the New Horizons Award of Excellence winner in the administrative staff division. She will be honored at a statewide conference this month.

Combs is honored for leading a team at HCTC in the development of an annual performance review process that better fit the needs of employees. The process facilitated and captured conversation between the employee and their direct supervisor. Together, they discussed the past years job performance and elaborated on what worked well.

The pilot process and form was implemented at three community colleges and by several of the KCTCS departments.

Mrs. Combs noted, One goal of Human Resources is to promote activities and processes which develop our employees and make them more effective in performing their position duties. An effective evaluation system promotes excellence in teaching and learning by providing feedback to the employee about his or her job performance. That feedback, when used by the employee and supervisor to improve his or her performance, promotes career development and excellence.

Mrs. Combs began at HCTC in 1983 as an office assistant, working her way up to Administrative Assistant to the President, then moving to Human Resources where she was named director until her present position as senior director. She is a member of the college s Senior Leadership Team.

HCTC President Dr. Steve Greiner praised Mrs. Combs for her professionalism, integrity, and hard work to handle employee issues and needs. Vickie understands the importance of professional development for our employees and has made major strides in providing the very best for HCTC, Dr. Greiner said.

In Human Resources, Mrs. Combs coordinates the hiring, evaluating, and professional development training of employees. She and her staff oversee the benefits for employees, among a multitude of other services.

Mrs. Combs has also provided the leadership for the Going Green initiative, Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast, has worked with Crisis Management, and Employee Development.

She holds a master s degree from Morehead State University and a bachelor s degree from Eastern Kentucky University, both in Business Administration.

Vickie and husband Richard of Jackson have three sons, Lance Corporal Richard Combs Jr., age 24, Brian Combs, age 20, and Benjamin Combs, age 15.