After 35 years at UT System institutions – including over 26 years at UT Southwestern – Andrea Gonzales says the friendships she has developed and the challenges of her jobs have been the most rewarding.

Andrea Gonzales

Ms. Gonzales is a Department Administrator in the Department of Immunology. She began her UT System career in 1983 at UT Arlington as an Administrator in the Department of Electrical Engineering before moving to UTSW in 1992, where her first job was as an Administrative Staff Assistant V in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

I’ve always highly valued my employment at UT Southwestern, not only because of the challenging work and opportunities available to me, but also because of our mission. We train the scientists and physicians of the future and improve the health and well-being of humanity, Ms. Gonzales says.

On the job, Ms. Gonzales’ colleagues might describe her as reserved and introverted. But that is because she’s so focused on getting her job done in a timely and efficient manner, she explains. As a Department Administrator, some of her core responsibilities involve budgetary and financial operations, administrative operations, and personnel management.

Despite her reserved nature at work, Ms. Gonzales says one of her fondest memories at UT Southwestern involves a 2018 holiday party at which Immunology staff teams competed against each other in a lip-sync competition. Her administrative team performed Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” with Ms. Gonzales serving as a background singer. Her team took home the win!

Outside of work, Ms. Gonzales is looking forward to an overseas trip next year. One of her sons and his fiancée, both of whom also work at UTSW, will marry in the Bavarian region of Germany in 2020. It will be Ms. Gonzales’ first trip to Europe. She and her husband are very excited to have a few weeks of vacation time to travel around Europe after they’ve celebrated the wedding, she says.