HARRISBURG, Pa. – HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, has named a community college president from Oregon as its new leader. Dr. John J. “Ski” Sygielski is slated to take over the leadership of HACC this summer.
Sygielski, a native of Ohio, is currently president of Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), a multi-campus community college based in the Portland, OR, area. He is also chairman of the board of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) – the national association representing the nation’s nearly 1,200 community colleges. At HACC, Sygielski will replace Dr. Edna V. Baehre, who left to take a similar job in Napa, Calif.
Sygielski, known as “Dr. Ski,” will take over the helm at HACC on July 5 at the start of the college’s new fiscal year.
“We are delighted that Dr. Sygielski has decided to join HACC’s team,” said Don Schell, chairman of the HACC Board of Trustees. “He brings multi-campus experience, strong workforce development and academic credentials along with excellent planning and fundraising skills as well as a national reputation to HACC and will help the college continue its excellent progress and growth."
For his part, Sygielski expressed pleasure in returning to the region near former colleagues, friends and family as well as a great admiration for HACC and its continuing potential.
“I’ve followed HACC closely since 2003 and I am thrilled to have an opportunity to represent a successful teaching and learning community that is highly responsive to its communities’ education and training needs and which is strongly valued and supported by its constituents,” he said. “We’ve accomplished a lot over the past three years at MHCC, and I leave it in the hands of a very strong leadership team who will continue to work with professionals dedicated to growing the college to be the shining light within the Oregon community college system.”
Under Sygielski’s leadership, MHCC enhanced the college’s engagement within the communities it serves, reversed a decline in student enrollment, created a strong strategic plan, enhanced the relationships with service region high schools and increased the college’s reserve fund from $100,000 to more than $4 million. In addition, he helped increase donations by 32 percent, established new academic programs, increased community partnerships, led the creation of a facilities master plan and secured funding for new capital projects, including a new child development center -- the first new building project on the college’s Gresham campus in nearly three decades.
Prior to joining MHCC in 2008, Sygielski was president of Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC), a multi-campus college in Virginia – a post he held for five years. While president at LFCC, he consistently increased enrollment, helped establish a third college location, led the successful completion of the college’s 10-year accreditation process, developed and established institutional planning strategies. He also raised more than $4 million dollars for the college, led an upgrade in its technology infrastructure, increased dual enrollment participation of high school students by 25 percent and oversaw construction of more than $22 million in capital projects. What’s more, under his leadership, the college served a greater percentage of businesses in its service region than comparable programs at any of Virginia’s 22 community colleges.
Previously, Sygielski has served as the first vice chancellor for workforce and economic development for the Virginia Community College System. Before that, he had been an adjunct business faculty member and administrator for nearly a decade at the College of DuPage – Illinois’ largest community college. He also has experience as a K-12 instructor and a corporate trainer for two Fortune 500 companies.
Sygielski holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, two master’s degrees in business and a doctorate in education leadership from Northern Illinois University. An avid bicyclist and runner, Sygielski is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and the only member of his working class family to graduate from college.
HACC serves nearly 24,000 degree-seeking students in a 10-county region in Central Pennsylvania. In addition, the college serves more than 50,000 students in its workforce development and continuing education programs.
HACC operates campuses in Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon and York as well as a robust virtual campus and offers nearly 200 degree, diploma and certificate programs.
![Dr. John J. "Ski" Sygielski](/newsroom/2011/images/SygielskiJohn4x6_00590_519533_480w.webp "Dr. John J. "Ski" Sygielski")