Roll Call Tribute

Earl Emil Campa

February 5, 1946 - February 15, 2022

Earl Emil Campa was born in San Antonio, Texas on February 5, 1946. At the age of 6 he moved to Houston, where he spent most of his early life. In 1965 he graduated from Aldine High School and then married his high school sweetheart, Adria. Not long after, both of his sons, Troy & Dean, were born in Houston. In 1983 he moved his family to Conroe, Texas, where he lived until he passed away on February 15, 2022. Earl was a loving and supportive son to his parents, Sidney & Elizabeth Campa, until their deaths in 1988. He also relished his memories of a boisterous and joy filled life with both his sister, Joyce Davis Barbour, and brother, Sidney Wood Campa, and their families.

Earl’s family was always the important part of his life. His steady secure love and support allowed his wife Adria to flourish in her own personal, educational, and professional development. For his sons, Troy & Dean, he provided steady loving guidance as they grew to be young men. He was extremely proud of the accomplishments they achieved in their educational, professional, and personal lives. His love, support, and acceptance for the whole family encouraged and enabled each member to strive to attain their own personal goals. Needless to say, he is missed as he was a constant positive influence and was always there to listen whenever needed.

In addition to his family, Earl was also passionate about his education and his many careers. Earl worked as a Postal Carrier with the United States Post Office from 1965 to 1970. Then from 1970 through 1990 he served in a variety of divisions for the Houston Police Department. Throughout this time, Earl’s primary focus was to protect and serve the citizens of Houston with integrity and honesty. A few of the positions he held included patrol officer for the Northeast Houston Police Station, recruiter, and detective/sergeant. After the change in rank he served in homicide, robbery & theft, crime prevention, internal affairs, and cadet training.

While working with the Police Department, he also attended Sam Houston State University and in 1982 received his B.A.T. in Education with a major in history and a minor in English. Earl then began working on his Master’s, and at the same time became an Administrative Sergeant at the Houston Police Academy where he was critical in updating and overseeing the curriculum including establishing the Diversity Training program. In 1987 he received his M. Ed. in Counselor Education.

After his retirement from the Houston Police Department in 1990, Earl continued his employment as a civilian in his demanding administrative role at the Houston Police Academy while he continued his educational journey at Texas A & M University, culminating in the attainment of his Ph.D. in Higher Education Curriculum and Instruction in 1993.

From 1987 through 1994 concurrent with his work at the Houston Police Academy, Earl also worked part time at North Harris College as a professor of psychology. After resigning from the position at the Houston Police Academy in 1994, Earl began work at North Harris County Community College as Grant Coordinator. In 1995, he served as a founding administrator at Montgomery College and was in charge of developing a “one stop student services management plan” that integrated the full range of student services. This plan was recognized as an exemplary plan by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in 2000.

After his position as Vice President of Student Services at Montgomery College, Earl served on the senior planning team at Lone Star College - Cy-Fair that was responsible for designing, planning, and opening the college. One of his primary lead roles was coordinating the teams’ development in the implementation of a comprehensive one-stop student services program which integrated the college and Harris County public library, counseling services, a full service tutoring / learning center, and the ESL program. For four years he managed the developmental education and basic education programs. This learning center concept was awarded a commendation from the Commission on Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in 2004.

As an administrator and instructor in higher education, Earl believed it was important to provide the staff and students with an environment that allow them to reach their full potential. To achieve this he believed in allowing them to take safe risks as they attempted new endeavors while also being available as they needed his support. He was an advocate for providing access and support to all students who wanted to further their education.

Earl retired from the full time administrator position with Lone Star College in 2009 to focus full time on his practice as a licensed professional counselor. In 2011 he began teaching psychology as an adjunct instructor at Montgomery College. As a counselor, Earl’s primary focus was to help people understand themselves and their relationship with others.

Earl believed that his educational experiences, combined with the mentoring provided to him by others while he obtained his degrees, helped prepare him for his employment at Lone Star College. While Earl valued all of the positions that he had at Lone Star College, the two that he felt he was able to have the strongest influence on were the development of the colleges as vice president at Montgomery College in 2000 and vice president at Cy-Fair College in 2001.

Earl was always proud to work along side Dr. Bill Law and Dr. Diane Troyer, both LSC “reputation makers” and both innovative thinkers and planners who understand the importance of higher education and the role it plays in so many lives.

Through all of Earl’s various roles and positions, he always embodied the critical leadership characteristics of dedication, persistence, support and optimism while also naturally demonstrating his calm, compassionate, understanding, and considerate nature.