Houston Community College Health Sciences Dean Recognized for Leadership

A sign that says "Practice Safe Stress" beckons visitors to Dr. Norma Perez' second-floor office in the Texas Medical Center. And Dr. Perez has a good concept of what stress is. She is dean of Health Sciences at Houston Community College and oversees the training in often-stressful fields where students learn to save lives, ease pains and practice the delicate art of tender loving care.

Dr. Perez is known as a team leader and able partner in education. Last fall she led the opening of the HCC Health Science Center inside the Dr. John B. Coleman Building, making HCC the only community college with a permanent classroom structure in the renowned Texas Medical Center.

This past year she was the recipient of two major awards for her years of dedication to community service and education. Texas Executive Women selected her one of the 10 Women on the Move and the Federation of Houston Professional Women named her a Woman of Excellence.

"Dean Perez not only is a visionary but also a hands-on leader," said Dr. Sylvia Ramos, president of HCC-Southeast, the health science umbrella. "Strategic in her thinking, she sets high standards for herself and for her faculty and staff."

Dr. Perez' association with the Health Science faculty and staff dates to 1993, when she became associate dean over the 17 programs. Only a few months before the five-story Texas Medical Center facility opened for the fall 1999 semester, she was named dean.

Dr. Arlo Weltge, a faculty member at The University of Texas Health Science Center and medical director for HCC's EMS program, said Dr. Perez is instrumental in building partnerships with four-year institutions.

"She's very level-headed," Dr. Weltge said. "She has a relaxed way of working through the problems and getting to the heart of the issue. She has brought a lot of maturity and depth to the Health Science programs. Her calm and insightful approach has been effective in moving ahead in terms of combining all of its health careers."

Dr. Perez said she has found that it's possible to get more done with less stress when there's a team involved.

"I want to say it has been a challenge," Dr. Perez said, referring to the first year of operations in the Health Science Center. "But because I believe in a team effort, the year was made a whole lot easier. As a team, every department chair had a say in terms of their area and what was needed to meet their needs for the future. There have been no complaints because everyone participated, and many times students had input. They discussed the look and the move. It was organized with minimal confusion. They are truly team players, they'll do everything in their power to make sure everything works right."

Actions back up these words. For example, last fall classes began while the Coleman Building was getting some finishing touches. Sometimes noise interfered with classes. Undaunted, faculty members worked in borrowed labs in other parts of the medical center. They also rearranged curricula when they had to, spending the first part of the semester lecturing. Later, when the hammering stopped and the new labs were complete, they taught students the on-the-job skills needed for their success.

"The faculty members are dedicated to do anything to make our students successful," said Dr. Perez. "They are critical thinkers who come up with good solutions."

Dr. Perez proudly boasts that word of the innovative application of the year-old building has spread throughout the state. Visiting health educators especially note the unique housing of all the health science programs HCC offers, the amount of computer technology accessible to students and up-to-date sophisticated equipment in its skills labs.

"Representatives from Austin College, which has a comparable facility on its drawing board, have visited," said Dr. Perez. "It appears as if features of our building are likely to become visible in the future Austin facility."

Officials from other Texas community colleges, including nearby, San Jacinto College and North Harris Montgomery Community College District, also have paid visits and studied the structure's layout and its high-tech features, the dean said.

While growing up on Houston's East Side, Norma Perez took the advice of teachers dedicated to guiding low-income students through the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their primary belief: Follow your dream with a thoughtful plan and plenty of hard work.

Her educational pursuits led to an undergraduate degree from Dominican College where she was a member of the last graduating class there in 1975, a master's in guidance and counseling from the University of Houston and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

The latest in a long line of education role models stands out in Dr. Perez' A&M experience. Dr. Bryan Cole oversaw her doctoral dissertation.

"He was highly supportive of the need to finish my dissertation when I put things on hold to take care of my mom when she had cancer. He never gave up on me," said Dr. Perez

Her mother died two years ago, just before she received her doctorate.

The fifth child in a family of eight learned her strong work ethic from her father, a retired Southern Pacific Railroad employee, and her mom, a lifelong homemaker.

She also adopted the Perez family hobby of shooting pool, a game she still believes to be the best way to practice "safe stress."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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