Dr. Tammy Burnette knows exactly what she would say to her 1988 self.
“I would say that sometimes life just beats you down, and you don’t realize what potential you have,” she said. “Looking back, I wish I had believed in myself as much at age 20 as I do now.”
Burnette has been a professor in the TJC medical office management/health care administration program since 2013.
Her path to TJC wasn’t easy, but it offers a perspective that her students benefit from today because she can honestly say she has been in their shoes.
“My students are completely non-traditional, between the ages 30 to 45,” she said. “They’re mostly either homemakers coming into the workforce or displaced workers who have been laid off; and they’re people who have heard that health care is a great career.
“They’re not traditional, and that’s the way I started. I didn’t start as a student at TJC until I was 35 years old. I was no different than they are.”
At age 16, Burnette got pregnant, quit high school, and became an Army wife.
“By the time I was 20, my husband and I were going through a divorce; and I was pregnant with my fourth child and living in Germany. So in 1988, I came back to the states with a ninth-grade education, four children and an ex-husband who sometimes paid child support and sometimes didn’t.”
So, she worked multiple jobs. Waitressing was her usual go-to because it brought in the quickest money, but the hours were long and there was no future in it.
Burnette had a friend who wanted to hire her to work in health care, but it required a high school diploma.
“So, I went to Literacy Council of Tyler and enrolled in some classes,” she said. “I was struggling because I was working two jobs and they had morning classes. They put you in a generalized room with everybody; and I had never taken algebra, had problems with grammar, flow, structure, and I didn’t have the fundamental understanding of phonics.
“I had been out of the game for a long time, so I got really frustrated and I quit.”
Then literacy council volunteer Nancy Hill called me and said, ‘What’s going on?’ and I said, ‘I just can’t do it. I’m not smart enough.’”
Hill convinced Burnette to try a different class and then another.
“She just would not give up on me,” Burnette said. The answer to success came in the form of tutors. Burnette worked with a math tutor as well as a tutor to improve her writing abilities.
After about six months, she took a GED pre-test. to check her progress. “I did well and was absolutely surprised by that,” she said. “The one-on-one tutoring was the key for me because I was afraid to ask stupid questions in a classroom situation. I just didn’t want to look stupid.”
As a professor today, Burnette can immediately pick out the students in her class who are afraid to speak up.
“I can tell exactly who they are,” she said. “So, I will send them an email and ask them to come by my office to talk in private. There are times when I will teach the entire class in my office because I know they’re never going to ask questions.”
Upon receiving her GED, Burnette got that job in health care, registering patients in a hospital emergency room. Within six months, she got a promotion; and within a year, she was promoted to a manager position.
Her supervisor encouraged her to move up the ranks, but it would require a college degree.
“So, I did a tour of TJC and the TRIO department, where I met Renee Hawkins, who was instrumental in my doing well here as a student. I took my placement test and, of course, had to take developmental math courses to get up to speed.”
Burnette attended TJC full time, graduating with honors in 2005.
“It’s funny because some of the people I work with now were my teachers,” she said. “Kathrine Murray was my developmental math teacher. I could not have passed math without her, and now we both serve on the curriculum and instruction committee.”
After graduating TJC, Burnette decided to go for her bachelor’s degree, so she scheduled a tour at UT Tyler, and went through the application process.
By that time, she was a manager and working full-time days, and there were two programs to choose from: Bachelor of Business Administration or Human Resource Development.
They were both business degrees, but the HRD offered night and weekend classes, which worked better with her schedule.
“HRD is about human capital and managing people: productivity, motivation, engagement, total quality management; and the BBA is more about finance and marketing,” she said.
“HRD was a great fit for me, and it taught me to be engaged and to be a good leader and role model.”
In 2007, Burnette earned her bachelor’s degree with honors. By that time, Burnette had also become a volunteer tutor in the GED program at the literacy council.
After the bachelor’s degree, Burnette kept going and spent the next two years earning her master’s degree. She then joined the inaugural class of UT Tyler’s doctoral program in human resource development.
At that time, Burnette’s former supervisor Loretta Swan had left the hospital setting and joined TJC, where she created the Healthcare Administration program; and Burnette went to work with Swan.
“Being successful as a student isn’t about being the smartest, it’s about getting up and trying and doing it every day.”
“I started as an adjunct, then got offered a full-time position and started here in January 2013, and it’s been the best experience of my life,” she said. “I have such a love for ongoing education.
“Being successful as a student isn’t about being the smartest, it’s about getting up and trying and doing it every day.”
She sees the same struggles in her students today, but she’s also a witness to their successes.
“So many of our students don’t believe in themselves, so I always say that education feeds my soul,” she said. “I see students who were like me when I came in for my first semester. They’re barely scraping by or not understanding.
“Most of our students aren’t even trying for an AAS because they think they’re not smart enough, and then we always talk them into getting their degree instead of a certificate.”
Since she also consults in the healthcare field, she has a chance to see former students who are working and being successful.
“I remember them as students with their heads down and not thinking they could get a degree, and now they’re managers and billers and coders,” she said. “Their whole lives have changed and it makes you feel really proud.”
Today, Burnette is excited to be a part of TJC’s health care administration program.
“I never thought in a million years I could come to TJC, because I didn’t think I could pass the classes,” she said. “And I look at myself now and I’m actually teaching here. It’s so exciting.”
“What I owe, I owe to the literacy council because if they had not intervened, it never would have happened for me,” she said.
“Nancy said something to me one time,” Burnette recalled. “She said, ‘I’m going to believe in you until you believe in yourself.’ What she said stayed with me and is still a part of my heart.”
“I want to be an inspiration to my students as were all the people that helped me along the way.”
For more on the TJC medical office management/health care administration programs, go to www.tjc.edu/HCA.