On December 31, she will retire—closing a chapter that spans almost four decades of service.
Why stay so long when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average public service employee remains just six years with the same organization?
“This is the best place you could possibly work,” Lamb said.
Lamb joined the SDCCD in 1986 as a part-time clerical assistant at City College while raising her two young children. This was at a time when carbon copies were still in fashion and supply requisitions were made over the phone. As her children grew older, in 2000, she took on a full-time post as a senior clerical assistant at City College. Three years later, she accepted a position in the Chancellor’s Office at the District Office in Mission Valley, though she admits she was uneasy about the leap.
“I was really nervous about the move, so I asked my boss at City College, ‘Please don't fill my position, give me a month to see what it’s like.’ After just two weeks, I called him back and said, ‘Go ahead and fill it.’ I knew I was in the right place, a place where important discussions and decisions happen, where brilliant minds work tirelessly to serve students and the community," she said. “Witnessing that kind of commitment firsthand just made me love working for the district even more.”
Since making the move, Lamb has supported four of the district’s seven chancellors: Augustine “Augie” Gallego; Constance M. Carroll; Carlos O. Cortez; and, currently, Gregory Smith.
“Margaret embodies the best of the San Diego Community College District,” said Chancellor Smith. “She is gracious, professional, treats everyone with the utmost respect, and is committed to the mission of serving our students and serving our community.”
Her responsibilities range from acting as a liaison to the Board of Trustees and sitting as one of 13 Chancellor’s Cabinet members to working with community, labor, and student representatives. Lamb earned national recognition from the Association of Community College Trustees, receiving its Pacific Region Professional Board Staff Member Award for her leadership in transitioning governing board meetings and documents to an online format while maintaining compliance with open meeting laws and holding training sessions for professional staff and board members.
Her legacy of service is manifested in Lamb’s unwavering support of students and employees. She makes it a point to attend convocations, commencements, scholarship ceremonies, and award ceremonies for classified professionals at every college in the district.
“I always get emotional at commencement,” she said. “Just listening to students talk about their journeys and how they overcame whatever challenges came their way really gets to me. It’s a reminder of the ‘why’ I come to work every day.”
Her retirement will be focused primarily as a full-time caregiver for her mother, now 99, and mother-in-law, both of whom live at the Lamb household. She is also looking forward to taking piano lessons, traveling with her husband of 42 years, and enjoying more time with her children and grandchildren.
Asked how she wants to be remembered, she paused before answering.
“As a dedicated professional with a strong work ethic who tries to live by the Golden Rule, both at home and at work,” she said. “It’s never mattered who I'm speaking to, whether it’s a student, a colleague, a board member, or a college president, I’ve always tried, and I hope I’ve succeeded, in giving everyone the same care and attention that I would want them to give to me.”