By Amy “Eagle-Eye” Gerety once traveled around the world, working as an airline worker and member of the Peace Corps.
Her knack for learning languages began in high school when she learned Spanish as a foreign exchange student in the Dominican Republic. Her interest in international relations sparked her attraction to the airline industry.
Gerety earned her bachelor’s degree in diplomacy and world affairs in 1991. She worked for American Airlines in 1997 and, one year later, joined the Peace Corps to teach English to Romanian children in Moldova.
“You’re talking to people around the world, and I loved that,” Gerety, who is now Long Beach State’s director of parking and transportation, said. “I just really believe that we need to experience life that others experience.”
Three years after she was laid off as a customer service manager for British Airways, Gerety applied to be the director of parking and transportation at CSULB in 2015. Gerety said she loves her job as director, despite complaints of parking availability and permit prices from the students.
Taking her experience from the Peace Corps and her “exciting” position at British Airways, Gerety welcomed the change of pace in her new position as parking and transportation director.
“I’m so thankful that I was laid off, to be honest. I think it’s important to continue to be a diverse person and experience new things in life,” Gerety said. “I don’t ever want to stay stagnant.”
Along with promoting sustainable transportation, Gerety stays on top of all aspects of parking and transportation on campus. She collaborates with other CSULB departments, analyzes daily parking reports and explores new technology to incorporate on campus.
Gerety said she was proud when CSULB became the first CSU campus to implement the virtual license plate recognition (LPR) permitting system in 2016. She said she was also pleased with the implementation of the remote payment system for daily and short-term parking via the ParkMobile App.
Director of Operations Brett Palmquist, who works alongside Gerety, described her as a “worldly traveler.”
“She has a very broad spectrum of experiences in her life,” Palmquist said. “She always wants to be the leading and the forefront CSU. I think she’s a very forward thinker in that sense.”
