Vice president of HACC’s Gettysburg Campus leaves big imprint
March 23, 2012
GETTYSBURG – Jennifer Weaver, vice president of HACC’s Gettysburg Campus, retired March 16 due to health reasons after 22 years of service.
Shannon Harvey, campus executive dean of academic affairs, is serving as acting vice president.
In 1990, Weaver came to HACC with the vision to build a Gettysburg site that would meet the needs of people and businesses that call Adams County home. Under her leadership, the campus now attracts nearly 2,400 students and has expanded from limited courses to a wide range of associate degrees as well as a comprehensive program of workforce training courses and programs.
“She grew our operation there from a site to a center to the tremendous campus that it is today with over 2,000 students. It is always a pleasure to visit Gettysburg and interact with staff and faculty,” said Ronald Young, college provost and vice president of academic affairs and enrollment management. “I salute Jennifer for assembling such a great team that puts the student first in thought and action, just as she always did. I thank her for all she has done for HACC and wish her the very best retirement possible!”
Weaver oversaw HACC’s Gettysburg presence from its first location with offices in the Gettysburg Area School District administration building, to the former Gettysburg Fire Department building on York Street in 1992, to its current location in 1997.
John J. “Ski” Sygielski, Ed.D., HACC’s new president, said, “Since joining the College in mid-July 2011 and visiting the Gettysburg Campus regularly, I continue to hear about Jennifer’s commitment to ensuring the campus is an integral part of the community. In fact, I’ve heard numerous stories about Jennifer and how she singlehandedly changed the lives of employees and, most importantly, students – in ways most of us may never fully appreciate.”
Weaver said she is thankful for the opportunity to help shape so many students’ lives.
“It has been a joy to work with the HACC family and local community in creating the Gettysburg Campus, starting with the Center in the Gettysburg Area School District building to today’s state-of-the-art branch campus. I leave with the confidence that HACC will continue to thrive and be an asset to the communities it serves,” she said.
Apart from her dedicated leadership at HACC, Weaver is known as a leader in the community – one who sees a need and spearheads the effort to meet it.
In the 1970s, as director and executive director of the YWCA for 14 years, she oversaw creation of the Family Recreation Center that brought the area’s only indoor swimming pool and 3,000 men, women and children inside its doors. In the 1980s, she was a founder of a service for battered women, now known as Survivors Inc., where women and their children can find shelter from an abuser, counseling and most importantly, hope for the future.
Last year, Weaver was awarded the Gettysburg Rotary Club’s prestigious Dwight D. Eisenhower Humanitarian Award for her promotion of community partnerships and resources in the development of innovative programs that benefitted HACC students and community business, industry and health care providers. She also was awarded the 2011 Amigos de la Communidad Education Award from Manos Unidas, a local advocacy group, in recognition of her significant contribution to support or provide access to education for Hispanics. Examples of this include the creation of a bilingual support special position, English as a second language classes, Spanish GED classes and a bilingual/diversity club.
“One person doesn’t accomplish all these things. I see it as a group endeavor and I just happen to be the person getting the recognition,” said Weaver, who was named the Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2010.
Weaver, a self-described people person, said her favorite thing at HACC was to “walk the halls and talk with students or sit in a class and see all the skills they’re learning and then share in their success at a nurse’s pinning or at graduation.”
To support her commitment to student success, particularly for those of Hispanic origin or first-generation college students, Weaver established the Jennifer Weaver Scholarship Award Fund in 2011 through the HACC Foundation. The fund will provide scholarships to students enrolled at HACC’s Gettysburg Campus who demonstrate unmet financial need.
To make a gift in honor of Weaver's retirement, contact Judy Cole Alder, community development officer, at 337-3855, x3056 or jaalder@hacc.edu. Contributions are payable to the HACC Foundation, c/o Jennifer Weaver Scholarship Award Fund and can be sent to the HACC Foundation, Mumma 260, One HACC Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9989.
To view a PowerPoint highlighting Weaver’s career and her impact on the development of the Gettysburg Campus, go to www.haac.edu/gettysburg, look under Gettysburg Campus News and click on “Gettysburg Campus Vice President Jennifer Weaver retires.”
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