Billiee Pendleton-Parker collection
Collection
Identifier: UA467
This mixed materials collection contains papers, photographs, and artifacts related to Billiee Pendleton-Parker, an employee at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) between 1987 and 2016.
This collection is open.
Copyright is held by Georgia Tech and/or Georgia Tech Research Corporation, but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.
4.3 Linear Feet
This collection contains papers, photographs and negatives, and artifacts, dating from 1973 to 2016, that relate to Billiee Pendleton-Parker. Pendleton-Parker worked at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) between 1987 and 2016. The collection especially highlights her volunteer involvement at GT and throughout Atlanta as well as her close relationship with GT students. Most materials are photographs that date between 1996 and 2002.
Billie Geraldine Pendleton-Parker (1952-2021), affectionately nicknamed BPP by generations of students, served at the heart of the Georgia Institute for Technology (GT) community and as a cornerstone of volunteerism in the wider Atlanta community for nearly 30 years. Named in honor of her father, Pendleton-Parker grew up with her family - William Gerald and Nancy (Suttle) Pendleton and three older sisters, Beth, Nancy, and Beatrice - in Shelby, North Carolina. The Pendleton parents encouraged young Billiee to volunteer. This unwavering commitment to volunteerism persisted throughout her lifetime.
In 1974, Pendleton-Parker graduated from Western Carolina University with a Bachelor’s degree in English. Three years later, she earned a Master’s in Education from the same university. On September 8, 1976, while a student at Western Carolina University, she married Samuel Riley Parker. She later attended the University of Tennessee and graduated with a Doctorate in Education in 1990.
Pendleton-Parker, who considered herself a teacher at heart, held several instructional positions at Western Carolina University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville between 1978 and 1987. In 1987, Pendleton-Parker joined the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at the Georgia Institute for Technology (GT). She became part-time Associate Director of the President’s Scholarship Program in Enrollment Services in 2004. She also remained at CETL part-time. By 2008, Pendleton-Parker served as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions. By 2015, she worked as the Assistant Director of the Office of Special Scholarships Programming.
Her commitment to volunteerism continued at GT and throughout Atlanta. By 1990, Pendleton-Parker served on the University’s AIDS Task Force, as Chair of the Brown Bag International Cultural Exchange Steering Committee, and managed the Office of the Vice President for Academic and Research Support’s Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellows Grant (1990-1993). Throughout her tenure at GT, she served on countless committees and supported numerous student organizations, such as: TEAM (Tech Enhancing Atlanta Metropolitan) Buzz Community Service Day, Women's Awareness Week, the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and as advisor to the Golden Key National Honor Society, Alpha Phi Omega, the Women's Student Union, and ERATO (the University’s literary magazine).
She championed social causes throughout the Atlanta community. Her extensive involvement included leadership and support roles in for countless local organizations and charities. For example, she served on the Board of Directors for the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Foundation, the NAMES Project/AIDS Quilt, and Hands on Atlanta. In 1998 alone, Pendleton-Parker served on the Organizing Committees for Race for the Cure, AIDS Walk, Run Over Cancer, and America Walks for Strong Women.
Prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were hosted in Atlanta, Pendleton-Parker served as Vice President of the Georgia Technology Olympic Coalition (GTOC). During the 1996 Olympic Games, she administered gender verification tests to female athletes as a volunteer in the Gender Verification Office of the Polyclinic. She also volunteered as the Chef de Mission Meeting Coordinator for the Paralympics, served as a torch bearer for the Paralympics Torch Relay, and escorted the Paralympic mascot, Blaze.
President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama formally recognized Pendleton-Parker’s volunteerism by awarding her the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2005 and in 2013, respectively. Pendleton-Parker also greeted President George W. Bush during his 2004 visit to Atlanta. White House officials selected her because of her exemplary record of volunteer service with organizations like Hands on Atlanta, Project Open Hand, and TEAM Buzz.
Throughout her GT career, Pendleton-Parker was awarded and recognized at the University and within the wider Atlanta community. Her innumerable awards include:
• 1990 - Daily Point of Light Award from the Points of Light Institute
• 1991- Administrative Service Award at GT
• 1991 - Office of Human Relations Award at GT
• 1992 - Office of Human Relations Award at GT
• 1998 - (GT)2 Club Community Service Award at GT
• 1998 - Undergraduate Student Council Administrator of the Year at GT
• 1999 - GT Women's Leadership Conference Women of Distinction Award
• 2000 - Student Government Association’s Friend of the Student Award at GT
• 2000 - Freshmen Experience Program’s Freshmen Partner Award at GT
• 2003 - Atlanta Hawks Home Town HERO Award
• 2010 - "Most Georgia Tech Spirit" at GT’s "Up With the White and Gold”
• 2015 - Inaugural Billiee Pendleton-Parker Award for Outstanding Allyship at GT
• 2020 - During the Gold and White Honors, the Alumni Association announced that Pendleton-Parker would be celebrated as an honorary alumna in recognition of her support for the University and its people.
Billiee Pendleton-Parker passed away on January 14, 2021. She was beloved within the “Techie” community because of her compassion, humor, support, and vibrant celebration of everyday life. Her enduring legacy is reflected in several ways, including an endowment established to support three areas at GT for which she advocated: the MLK Day of Service, the LGBTQIA Resource Center, and the Women’s Resource Center.
The Billie Pendleton-Parker collection was accessioned as an amalgamation of mixed materials. A GT blanket with pinned buttons, stickers, and taped messages, a TEAM Buzz 2000 photograph album, and one set of student life photographs with negatives, still packaged in their original envelope (which was discarded), exhibited original order. This order was maintained during processing. Other materials in the collection lacked original order.
Materials are stored off-site. Requests for access must be submitted at least 2 business days in advance.
Materials were given to Archives and Special Collections by Anna Pinder in April 2023.
Alex McGee completed the initial appraisal of the Billiee Pendleton-Parker collection. Materials with no clear archival value and those lacking contextual association with Mrs. Pendleton-Parker were discarded prior to accession.
Accessioned materials possess archival value related to the Georgia Institute of Technology, particularly student life and traditions, as well as the role, relationship, and impact Pendleton-Parker had within the University (e.g., Homecoming, ANAK) and in the broader Atlanta community (e.g., Presidential Volunteer Service awards, TEAM Buzz, contributions to the 1996 Olympics and Paralympics).
Sarah Bennett completed the processing for the Billiee Pendleton-Parker collection.
Papers were grouped and placed in folders by primary subject. (The mailing envelope and cardboard envelope were discarded.)
The original order of the TEAM Buzz 2000 photo album was maintained. (The photo album was discarded. The engraved inscription on the photograph album cover was documented with a photograph.)
The original order of the student life photographs was maintained. (The enveloped that contained the images was discarded.) Two photographs (duplicates) of the ground were discarded. The negatives were re-housed in the same order in which they appeared.
The BPP 50th Birthday photographs, which were in their original envelope, were re-arranged to pair duplicate images. (The envelope was discarded.) The negatives were re-housed in the same order in which they appeared.
Three loose printed photographs were placed into individual folders based on their unique subjects. Two separately framed photographs were placed in the same folder based on a common subject (formal event). (Both images were removed from their frames. The frames were discarded.)
A set of miscellaneous loose photographs depicted various students, subjects, and settings without logical arrangement. Many of the loose photographs have tape and list names, dates, and/or event on the reverse side. The set of photographs and their features suggest that the materials had been posted on a wall or other surface, perhaps in Pendleton-Parker’s office.
The sleeved pages from Pendleton-Parker’s retirement party generally remain in original order. That order, however, exhibited no logical or contextual associations. Photographs appeared near the back in the original arrangement. Sarah Bennett moved 5 pages near the back of the pages to group the segregate the notes and photographs.
The button, stickers, and other attachments on the GT Yellow Jackets blanket were not removed for re-housing.
File arrangement follows this hierarchy:
Paper-based
Prior to GT
At GT
External to internal
Chronological
Photographs and Negatives
Individual photographs
Subject
Sets of photographs
Subject
If you would like more details about Georgia Tech Archives processing procedures, contact the Archives.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository