Skip to main content
Magnifying glass icon
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016 Logo - Celebrating a Century in Cambridge
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Logo
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016 Logo - Celebrating a Century in Cambridge

Search form

  • The Campus & Cambridge
    • An Evolving Frontier
    • Timeline
    • InfiniteMIT
    • Voices of Cambridge
    • Imagining New Technology: A celebration exhibition at the MIT Museum
    • The Great Stride: MIT Moves to Cambridge exhibit
    • Celebrating a century of employees in Cambridge
      • A Distinguished MIT Career: Harold Lobdell
      • A Life-Long Learner: Maria Bachini
      • Everyone Knows Her Name (and Smile): Cheryl Vossmer
      • It Started in the Stacks: David Ferriero
      • Mabel Keyes Babcock
      • Paying it Forward: Evelyn Perez
      • Putting Employees First: Robert M. Kimball
      • The Butler Before the Butler: Alonzo Fields
      • The Humanistic Designer: Jacqueline Casey
      • Tina Chen: Giving Back Early On
      • Yvonne Gittens: Helping MIT Students Turn on the Light Bulbs
    • A Campus Built for Innovation exhibit
  • Events
    • Reception: Imagining New Technology at the MIT Museum
    • Symposia
    • Celebration Concert
    • Small Infinities, a play by Professor Alan Brody
    • MIT Day of Service
    • Open House
    • Moving Day at MIT
    • Toast to Tech
  • Together in Service
  • News
  • Video
  • About MIT 2016
    • Accessibility
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact
    • Privacy Statement
Home / The Campus & Cambridge / Celebrating a century of employees in Cambridge / Yvonne Gittens: Helping MIT Students Turn on the Light Bulbs
Share

Share

EmailLinkedIn
ShareGoogle+
TweetReddit
PinMore ...
Permalink

Yvonne Gittens: Helping MIT Students Turn on the Light Bulbs

1980–1990

It's safe to say there won’t be a lot of people in this generation who can say they spent their entire career in one workplace. At MIT, one special person made many thoughtful decisions along the way and did just that: Enter Yvonne Gittens.

Gittens came to the Institute in 1965. As noted at an event honoring long-time service at MIT, Gittens “talked of how she first came to interview at MIT, unsure about whether there were jobs for Cambridge kids just out of high school, especially Cambridge kids who happen to be African American. There were, she discovered, and she became a clerk in the Personnel Department.”1

While working as an administrative assistant in various capacities, Gittens used MIT’s tuition assistance program to get her bachelor’s degree. She ultimately received her master’s degree in education at Harvard, and in 1980, was considering two job offers. Luckily for the students she would assist in the years to come, Gittens chose MIT and became the assistant director of financial aid. In 1986, she was promoted to associate director.

After an incredible 42 years of service to MIT, Gittens retired in 2007. At that time she noted in an interview: “One thing I really like about working in financial aid at MIT is that MIT has remained need-based.2 She recalled explaining to many prospective students over the years that you are 'admitted based on what you have in your head and funded based on what you don’t have in your pocket' … I tell them MIT is an expensive school, but it may not cost you that much. You just see the light bulbs going on.”2

Gittens received many honors during her time at MIT, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Achievement Award in 1989 and the President’s Award for Community Service in 1994. She currently is president of the Quarter Century Club.

Photo: Yvonne Gittens

Next 1990–2000: David Ferriero

Presented by Human Resources at MIT


Sources

1. Slice of MIT. “8,000 Years of MIT Experience.”
2. Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education. June 1, 2007. “SFS Says Goodbye to Yvonne Gittens.”

3. MIT Quarter Century Club
 

  • Read more
Yvonne Gittens
  • The Campus & Cambridge
    • An Evolving Frontier
    • Timeline
    • InfiniteMIT
    • Voices of Cambridge
    • Imagining New Technology: A celebration exhibition at the MIT Museum
    • The Great Stride: MIT Moves to Cambridge exhibit
    • Celebrating a century of employees in Cambridge
      • A Distinguished MIT Career: Harold Lobdell
      • A Life-Long Learner: Maria Bachini
      • Everyone Knows Her Name (and Smile): Cheryl Vossmer
      • It Started in the Stacks: David Ferriero
      • Mabel Keyes Babcock
      • Paying it Forward: Evelyn Perez
      • Putting Employees First: Robert M. Kimball
      • The Butler Before the Butler: Alonzo Fields
      • The Humanistic Designer: Jacqueline Casey
      • Tina Chen: Giving Back Early On
      • Yvonne Gittens: Helping MIT Students Turn on the Light Bulbs
    • A Campus Built for Innovation exhibit
  • Events
    • Reception: Imagining New Technology at the MIT Museum
    • Symposia
    • Celebration Concert
    • Small Infinities, a play by Professor Alan Brody
    • MIT Day of Service
    • Open House
    • Moving Day at MIT
    • Toast to Tech
  • Together in Service
  • News
  • Video
  • About MIT 2016
    • Accessibility
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact
    • Privacy Statement
MIT Logo
Explore, discover, connect #MIT02139