Terra Success Stories

COLLEEN CARMACK - 1991 Associate of Applied Business Graduate

Colleen Carmack, Sandusky County Recorder.
The 1991 Terra Community College graduate likes the sound of that.

“I would consider being elected to the position of County Recorder by the residents of the county I serve as both an honor and an accomplishment,” Carmack said. “I was also honored to be invited back to Terra in 1994 as a guest speaker for the Professional Development Class.”

After graduating from Fremont Ross in 1984, Carmack enrolled at Terra and entered the work world.

“I found my first job while attending Terra,” she recalled. “I was going to one of my secretarial classes and noticed a job posting on the bulletin board for a local law firm in need of a legal secretary. I took down the information, sent a resume, was called for an interview and got the job.”

Carmack continued to attend Terra and work at the law firm. She earned an Associate of Applied Business from Terra in 1991 and along the way became Vice President of the title agency that was housed with the law firm where she began.

In 1999, she took a position with the Sandusky County Engineer’s Tax Map Office and on Jan. 1, 2002, was chosen to fill the unexpired term of Sandusky County Recorder. Carmack was then elected to the position during the general elections later that year.

As the Recorder, her responsibilities include permanent retention of all documents relating to real estate within the county. An important aspect to the Recorder’s work is to index each document so it may be readily located. Accurate indexing makes it possible for persons searching land records to find the documents necessary to establish a history of ownership and ensures that any debts or encumbrances against the property are evident.

Sixteen years of work experience helped prepare Carmack for her Recorder’s position that pay approximately $46,000 a year. But Terra also was important.

“There are many elements of courses I took at Terra that I use frequently,” she said. “Some of those courses are accounting, speech, professional development, business law and management, to name a few.”

Carmack has been married to her husband, Scott, for almost 17 years. He is currently a student at Terra.

And her education isn’t finished. She is required to complete 13 hours of continuing education per year as a member of the Ohio Recorder’s Association.