• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

MarionMade

People, Places, Products, Programs

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On YoutubeCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Instagram
We Are Presidential!We Are Having Fun!We Are Generous!
  • Get Involved
  • About
  • Events
    • MarionMade! 5k Sign Up
  • People
  • Places
  • Products
  • Programs
  • Links
  • Contact

New Book by Teresa Parker Highlights Marion Technical College’s Golden Anniversary

By MarionMade! on May 19, 2020

Marion Technical College (MTC) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this November. In honor of this golden anniversary, the college commissioned a book of its history by someone who witnessed much of it: MTC alumna and recently retired staff member Teresa Parker. Parker started at MTC as a student in the mid-1970s and worked at the college for more than 40 years.

“One of the main reasons I chose MTC was one of my best friends from high school was going to attend MTC. We carpooled from Mt. Gilead. I enrolled in a one-year intensive secretarial program, taking over 20 credit hours each quarter. I ended up staying and completing the second year and received an associate degree in secretarial office education.”

Parker earned a second associate degree in business management from MTC. She started as a student worker and then was hired full-time as a student services secretary.  She was promoted to supervisor of secretarial services. After seven years, she became an administrative assistant. Parker eventually served as Assistant to the President and was Chief of Staff at MTC before retiring.

“Working my way up from being a student employee to the chief of staff – it was a good journey!” Parker shared. “All of us that worked there that long are pretty proud of all they accomplished, how the college grew and the number of students that we served and all of the people we helped along the way.”

Parker witnessed a number of milestones in her decades of service.

  1. “When I came to MTC as a student in 1975, MTC and the Ohio State University at Marion shared Morrill Hall. The Technical Education Center (now Bryson Hall) was under construction and did not open until the fall of 1976,” Parker recalls. “MTC offered programs in business, engineering, secretarial office education, and nursing. Enrollment was a little over 500 students.”
  2. Enrollment is now over 2,500 students annually. More than 52,000 students have walked through the doors.
  3. “One thing that has not changed is MTC’s focus on the student. One of the college’s slogans in the earlier years was ‘help a student get a job, keep a job, or get a better job.’  I think that remains true today,” Parker stated. “The primary mission is to help students learn the skills needed to be employed in their field of study or continue their education at a four-year college.”

Researching the book helped Parker appreciate the challenges of the first few years of the college, which was first called Marion County Technical Institute. She researched historical documents for over a year and interviewed some of the 500 full-time employees who helped shape thousands of lives and careers.

“MTC felt like a family. We had a large number of employees who worked together for 30 or 40 years, which is not something that you see very often these days. You do become a family.” shared Parker, who was introduced to her husband Steve (MTC alumni) by a fellow employee, Joel Liles.

Teresa Parker
Teresa Parker

“I wrote the book for future employees so they would know what the college was like when it started and what it focused on over the decades and how it grew – how technology changed; how the facilities came about,” Parker said.

Parker says local people should be proud of MTC. “It is truly MarionMade!.  A group of Marion business and education leaders were instrumental in establishing MTC,” Parker said.

MTC has active involvement and support from the community, as business and industry leaders serve on academic advisory committees, help develop academic programs, and offer employees who serve as adjunct faculty at MTC.

While the technology, hairstyles, and campus resources have changed, one goal remains the same: to help MTC students succeed. MTC invests in local students and it pays dividends for our workforce, businesses, and our community.

To order a copy of “Marion Technical College: The First 50 Years”, visit mtc.edu/50book. Copies will be $50 per book and will be delivered in late summer.

Recent MarionMade! Stories

  • Marion Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

    THE MARION AREA CONVENTION & VISITOR’S BUREAU When the Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) was established in April, 1985, tourism was a little-known industry. Most of us simply traveled to where friends and family recommended, occasionally responding to the few travel brochures available. All that changed in 1983 when the Ohio General Assembly […]Read More »
  • Memorial to Marion Soldiers, Sailors and Public Servants at Marion Cemetery

    Generations of Marion County residents have fought for our country. Inside the broad gates of the Historic Marion Cemetery stand memorials to service members from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II as well as local law enforcement and firefighters. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Chapel The Soldiers’ […]Read More »
  • Carousels and Carvings- Precious Pieces of Art Preserved, Restored and Created in Marion

    From a lifelong love of “always wanting to build stuff” Todd Goings built a one-of-a-kind business that preserves cherished memories of childhood and summer vacations.  Todd and his crew of eighteen staff members at Carousels and Carvings restore and preserve historic and create new carousels for use around the country. Todd started out as a […]Read More »
  • Marion Area Orchestra

    Believing in Local Music Marion Area Orchestra (MAO) is an amateur string orchestra founded to provide a musical performance outlet for violinists, violists, cellists and bassists in the Marion, Ohio area.  Some of the volunteers are local school orchestra members and home schooled young people, but mostly adults numbering forty-three total people at this time. […]Read More »

Share Your MarionMade! Story

Click Here to share your story about MarionMade! people, places, products, and programs!
  • Get Involved
  • About
  • Events
  • People
  • Places
  • Products
  • Programs
  • Links
  • Contact

Marion Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Downtown Marion Love INC Marion Public Library Marion Area Chamber of Commerce Marion CANDO! Marion Community Foundation United Way of Marion County Marion Technical College

© 2025 · MarionMade! is a community initiative led by Marion Technical College · Website is powered by Neighborhood Image