Carole C. Valenti, emergency management director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has received the center’s Federal Women’s Program Outstanding Achievement Award.
The honor, which commemorates Women’s Equality Day, recognizes outstanding achievement and exceptional service to the Marshall Center and to NASA’s mission. Awards are presented in three categories — professional, administrative and supervisory. Valenti was honored in the administrative category.
Valenti assumed her current position in 2010 — and also serves as the Marshall Center’s continuity-of-operations coordinator, ensuring the work of the center will continue in the event of a natural emergency or other crises. Both posts are part of Marshall’s Office of Center Operations, which oversees security and emergency services for the center.
“Carole raises the standard of excellence for the Emergency Management program,” said Michael Wilson, manager of Marshall’s Protective Services Office and Valenti’s supervisor. “She works tirelessly to safeguard the Marshall Center team, and also has forged a supportive, mutually beneficial working relationship with her U.S. Army counterparts across Redstone Arsenal and with local emergency management officials — all of whom highly value her expertise.”
Women’s Equality Day, celebrated each Aug. 26 by presidential proclamation, honors certification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920, granting women the right to vote.
Valenti and two other honorees received their awards July 30 during the annual NASA/Marshall Honor Awards ceremony, recognizing those who made significant contributions to NASA’s mission and the work of the center over the previous 12 or more months.
A native of Hartselle, Ala., Valenti graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1977 as a member of the second class of women to enroll in its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduation, pursued a specialty in ordnance — tanks, munitions and military supplies — and spent 26 years on active duty, including 12 years serving overseas.
Valenti retired from active duty in 2003 and moved to Washington to join the integration staff for the new Department of Homeland Security, helping to organize and launch the cabinet department created less than a year earlier. In 2005, she was deployed to Louisiana to support the joint field office aiding recovery and cleanup in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Among the state and federal organizations and facilities she coordinated with during that period was NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, managed for the agency by the Marshall Center.
In 2010, when Marshall created its new emergency management and continuity-of-operations position, Valenti jumped at the opportunity to return to her native Alabama. She quickly led a number of emergency-response activities at Marshall, including the closing of the center due to severe weather — most notably the April 2011 cluster of tornadoes which claimed 249 lives across Alabama, and left thousands homeless or without power. Valenti and her team worked with Marshall administrators and local and state officials around the clock, helping to restore power and resume full operations.
Valenti has worked to continue to improve Marshall’s emergency response capabilities. She expanded routine operations from 40 hours per week to 60 hours to accommodate potential emergency-response needs for Marshall teams working early morning or late evening hours; created a quarterly preparedness bulletin and emergency procedures handbook for Marshall team members; and mounted more rigorous emergency support training and exercise programs for the security team.
Among her numerous awards and honors, Valenti received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for her role in responding to the 2011 tornado crisis. She also was part of the Marshall team honored with a Group Achievement Award for that effort.
Valenti and her husband, retired Lt. Col. Earl Kennedy, reside in Madison, Ala.
Angela Storey
256-544-0034
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
angela.d.storey@nasa.gov