The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO STANLEY HANKIN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E963 on June 24, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO STANLEY HANKIN
______
HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN
of maryland
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute the career of a distinguished public servant, Stanley Hankin, after a remarkable 53 years of service to our country. On July 3, 2015, Mr. Hankin will be retiring from the U.S. Department of Labor, leaving a legacy of extraordinary dedication to the Department and to the American worker.
Mr. Hankin arrived at the U.S. Department of Labor in 1962 as a graduate student at the University of Maryland. He began in the Division of State and Federal Relations within the Bureau of Employment Security, where he developed national training programs for workers in the State Employment Security system. At that time, videotape technology was just being introduced, although its uses were largely unknown within the government. Using his initiative and foresight, Mr. Hankin transformed video into an integral part of the Department's strategy to convey its messages to the American public.
As an innovator and forward-thinker, Mr. Hankin's talents as an Audiovisual Producer were well-known. He ran nationwide training workshops on how to videotape and produce programs, and he began videotaping significant meetings and sending the recordings to employees in the field. Mr. Hankin also persuaded the Job Corps and the Bureau of Apprenticeship to utilize video PSAs as tools for promoting their good work. After Jobs Corps began to collaborate with the National Football League, Mr. Hankin produced the first in-house Department of Labor PSA, which featured Rosey Grier and Ron Jaworski of the Philadelphia Eagles and Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Mr. Hankin continued his work with video into the 1970s, a period when the technology was gaining popularity. During this time, he began efforts to use video as a means of communicating with workers, and also started a program to coach Department of Labor executives for on-camera appearances and interviews. In the 1980s, when the Department of Labor was given a fully operational Ampex Television studio, Mr. Hankin seized the opportunity. Before long, he was producing award-winning programs for both employees and employers. Mr. Hankin's accomplishments were so widespread that he was invited to Amsterdam to teach its Labor Department employees how to produce video programming. He was then asked to document the 1983 Conference of Liberators, which brought together men and women from across the world who had played a role in liberating Nazi concentration camps. The resulting work, To Bear Witness, brought the Department critical acclaim, winning an Emmy in 1983.
From the 1990s until today, Mr. Hankin continued to approach the Department's use of various forms of media with great innovation. Among many other projects, he produced emergency PSAs for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and Up From Zero, a program documenting the heroic workers in New York City who reclaimed and recovered the World Trade Center site. Considered by Mr. Hankin to be one of the Department's crowning achievements, Up From Zero won numerous awards, including the coveted CINE Golden Eagle Award. His most recent plans include making video-streaming a regular component of the Department's events and maintaining the standard of excellence expected of the Department's television facility.
Whether he was training Department employees on how to better communicate the goals of their new programs and initiatives or producing PSAs to help the unemployed, at-risk youth, or veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mr. Hankin always has supported the mission of the Department to assist and protect the rights of American workers. Over the course of his career, he produced or directed more than 1000 video programs and projects.
Through his leadership, infectious energy, and enthusiasm, Mr. Hankin has inspired a standard of excellence in the creative disciplines throughout the Department of Labor. A truly remarkable and accomplished public servant, he has received well-deserved recognition and the love and respect of employees throughout the decades.
I ask my colleagues to join me in expressing our deepest gratitude and appreciation to Stanley Hankin for his 53 years of outstanding service to our country.
____________________
