At the end of December, Tamara Pongracz, Department Head of BCIT Trades Access, will retire after 29 years of dedicated service to the British Columbia Institute of Technology and to trades learners across the province.
Quietly, and often behind the scenes, Tamara has helped thousands of students find their place in the skilled trades. A Red Seal certified plumber with a Masters of Education from Simon Fraser University, Tamara joined BCIT after starting her career as a welder’s helper in the late 1980s. Encouraged into the trades by her father—an Indigenous plumber, pipefitter—she has spent her career using that opportunity to open doors for others.
Opening doors to the skilled trades
As Department Head of the Trades Access group, Tamara has led programs that support students who are enrolled in, or preparing to enter, trades and technical studies. Under her leadership, Trades Access has grown into a place where learners can upgrade, explore, and gain the confidence and skills they need to succeed in demanding programs and workplaces.
One of Tamara’s most enduring legacies is the Trades Access family of programs. In 2001, with support from industry partners, she helped expand BCIT’s trades exploration options and launch Trades Discovery—an intensive, hands-on introduction to multiple trades that has helped hundreds of participants find their best-fit career path. That work later evolved to include Trades Discovery for Women, a program that combines technical training with employability skills and support tailored to women entering historically male-dominated fields.
Championing women and underrepresented learners
Tamara has also been a driving force behind BCIT Jill of All Trades, welcoming high school students from across BC for a day of exploration, mentorship, and hands-on activities in trades and technologies. Through this event and media appearances, she has consistently emphasized the importance of giving young women opportunities and role models she never had herself.
Beyond campus, Tamara is widely recognized as a champion for women and other underrepresented groups in trades. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Construction Foundation of BC, where she helps guide programs that support Indigenous learners, women, newcomers, and youth across the province. Her leadership in this space has been highlighted in provincial and sector profiles describing her role in transforming BC’s trades landscape.
Her commitment to equity and inclusion has also been recognized at the highest levels. Tamara has been profiled by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia as a “Champion for Equality” for her work advancing women in trades and sharing her experience as an Indigenous woman in construction.
A legacy of leadership and inclusion
Within BCIT, Tamara’s influence extends far beyond the shop floor and classroom. She has represented faculty on the BCIT Board of Governors, served as Vice Chair of Education Council and Chair of its Programming Committee, and contributed her time and perspective to numerous committees focused on respect, diversity, inclusion, safety, and labour relations.
Her contributions have been recognized through multiple awards, including a BCIT Teaching Excellence Award, a BCIT Employee Excellence Award for Inclusivity, and recognition from the Vancouver Regional Construction Association as Outstanding Woman in Construction.
True to form, Tamara has asked that her retirement be marked without much fanfare. But it would be impossible to let her “sail into the sunset” without acknowledging the depth of her impact. Generations of students—many of them the first in their families to enter the trades; many from underrepresented communities; many unsure of where to start—have found confidence, community, and a path forward because she believed in them.
As Tamara steps into retirement, we extend our sincere thanks for her decades of service, leadership, and advocacy. Her legacy lives on in the Trades Access and Trades Discovery programs, in the culture of inclusion she has helped build at BCIT, and in the many alumni who are now shaping BC’s communities and economy through skilled trades careers.
From all of us at BCIT: thank you, Tamara, for everything you have done—and for all the doors you’ve held open for those coming behind you.