HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Regina C. Grant, a native of Birmingham, Ala., and an executive support assistant at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has received a Federal Women’s Program Outstanding Achievement Award for exceptional clerical service to the Marshall Center and the U.S. space program.
The award was presented by the Team Redstone Federal Women’s Program, which includes the Marshall Center and the U.S. Army Garrison at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. The annual awards recognize outstanding federal employees in professional, administrative, supervisory and clerical positions.
Grant is the executive support assistant for Dan Dumbacher, director of the Marshall Center’s Engineering Directorate. She assists in the day-to-day execution of all administrative business of the directorate office.
The organization is the largest at Marshall, with more than 2,600 civil servants and contractors supporting space shuttle propulsion systems; 24-hour science operations aboard the International Space Station; and a range of other science and exploration missions. The directorate also supports design and development of the Ares I rocket, the next-generation flagship that will launch new missions of exploration to the moon and beyond in decades to come.
“Regina is my trusted right hand,” Dumbacher said. “She efficiently coordinates the directorate office and she is cool under pressure, managing high-priority actions with an eye for detail and a cheerful attitude that make her a pleasure to work with.
“She is a model of what it means to be committed to her profession — which makes NASA’s mission possible,” he added.
“Being chosen for this honor is truly one of the highlights of my career,” Grant said. “NASA’s mission requires hard work and dedication, which pay off with new technologies and knowledge to help us right here on Earth. The Engineering Directorate family is an important element of that success. Being part of that is rewarding beyond words.”
In 1986, while attending J.F. Drake State Technical College in Huntsville, Grant accepted a co-op position as a clerk stenographer in the Marshall Center’s Systems Analysis and Integration Laboratory. She became a full-time NASA employee in 1988, and served in a variety of secretarial positions in NASA engineering and research organizations for two decades. She served from 2000 to 2005 as management support assistant to the deputy manager of the Marshall Center’s Safety & Mission Assurance Office. In 2005, she was promoted to executive support assistant for the Ares Projects Office. She transferred to the Engineering Directorate in 2007.
Grant earned her associate’s degree in secretarial science from Drake in 1988. She is the recipient of numerous exemplary service awards.
Grant and her two children reside in Meridianville.
