Tiller to retire from Huntsville Center after 30-year career
In October, Dorothy Tiller, a supervisory human capital specialist with the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, will close the chapter on her 30-year career with the federal government.
Her future plans include faithful service to God, visiting her children Ashley and Sherrill, and travel. She will celebrate her retirement with family and friends privately.
“I will miss being a part of something larger than myself,” Tiller said. “Whenever anyone would ask me ‘where do you work?’ and I would answer ‘the Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Center,” their response of respect and amazement was priceless to me. We should not be prideful, but, I must admit that I was always filled with pride when this would happen.”
Tiller, a Huntsville, Alabama, native, got her start with the federal government as an intern with the Army Materiel Command in 1987. She became the Huntsville Center’s Human Capital officer in 2009.
“This assignment with the Huntsville Center allowed me to see and experience other significant missions within the Department of Army,” Tiller said. “The Corps’ missions would include supporting the Soldier in the field, strengthening the nation and defining excellence on an international level.
While at Huntsville Center, Tiller, a graduate of Alabama A&M University in 1981, served as a primary member of the negotiations team that developed the collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees after the workforce voted to join the union in 2015. She also successfully transitioned the Huntsville Center from the National Security Personnel System back to the General Schedule Total Army Performance Evaluation System, facilitated management through furloughs, hiring freezes and summer hire programs.
Tiller recalls that her initial interview for the intern position with Army Materiel Command took place at the Shoney’s restaurant then on the corner of University Drive and North Memorial Parkway.
“Mr. Roland Volk from the Atlanta Regional Office hired 27 other interns that day,” Tiller said.
Her first permanent assignment was at Redstone Arsenal, Missile Command (MICOM). She supported the Readiness and Research & Development commands in the Staffing and Classification divisions.
Throughout her career, Tiller held a variety of human resources positions with a number of government agencies, providing the full range of services and advice, but said the duties in her first permanent career position became her favorite.
“Position classification was my favorite job over the years because I could build an organization from the ground up,” Tiller said. “This allowed me to become an expert on the most efficient and effective human resources mission requirements which ultimately made me most valuable to management. I received my first permanent career offer in the Classification specialty.”
In 1992, she was promoted to a senior classification specialist and reassigned to the Army Research Laboratory (previously named Harry Diamond Labs) in Adelphi, Maryland. At ARL she became a key player in re-establishing its classification program and working in its Management Employee Relations program. Later, due to the regionalization of the Civilian Personnel Offices she was reassigned to Headquarters, Department of Defense, Educational Activity in Arlington, Virginia, and then promoted to lead classification specialist.
“In 1997, I relocated back to MICOM and served as a Management Employee Relations specialist who supported management in its personnel efforts to merge the MICOM with the Aviation Command to form Aviation and Missile Command,” Tiller said. She supported the Department of Army during Base Realignment and Closure, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and 9/11 as it relates to advising top management on all things personnel.”
From 2006-2009, Tiller served on the initial team to review shared duties between USACE, AMC and AMCOM concerning the proposed merger of Equal Opportunity and Equal Employment Opportunity duties. As a supervisor in the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, Tiller provided a full range of CPAC services to commands, activities or organizational elements with varied reporting channels and diverse missions.
Tiller worked for the CPAC as a lead personnel management specialist from 1996-2006 where she helped organizations resolve difficult issues or problems requiring consideration of the total personnel management program. She also worked as a supervisory human resources specialist providing expert advisory services to management sufficient to conduct business and negotiations with the AFGE bargaining unit employees and organizations.
“Department of Army has allowed me to successfully raise two lovely daughters, Ashley and Sherrill and put them through college; serve my community through volunteer work such as Red Cross Volunteer, Volunteer for homeless food kitchens such as Martha’s Table – District of Columbia, Downtown Rescue Mission and the Boys and Girls Club; and nurture two loving parents, the late Mrs. Lavada Crutcher Tiller and the late Mr. Johnny Preston Tiller, both of whom passed away during my tenure here at the Huntsville Center.
“I am grateful to Department of Army for allowing me to serve and support the Soldier in the field for 30 successful years. The Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Center has provided an excellent end to this portion of my life’s journey.”