[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       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.

                          ____________________