HACC Employees Receive Kudos from HACC Foundation

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The HACC Foundation recently recognized five employees at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, for their accomplishments and contributions to the College. Recipients of Faculty and Staff Awards presented during the Foundation’s summer 2017 cycle are:
 

First Name	Last Name	Title	Award
Cynthia	Davis	Education Program Director, Harrisburg Campus	Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award
Mallary	DeSantis	Instructor of Mathematics, Harrisburg Campus	Martha J. Stauffer Mathematics Award Endowment
Kyle	DiBrito	Bookstore Director	Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award
Lori	Friedlander	Technical Director, Rose Lehrman Theatre, Harrisburg Campus	Betty Martin Staff Development Award
Margie	Mattis	York Campus Dean of Academic Affairs	Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award

 
Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award
Cynthia Davis, Ed.D., became the program director for HACC’s Education Program in 2011 at a time when the Pennsylvania Department of Education required the Early Childhood and Elementary Education programs be merged.
 
Davis has provided a solid foundation for the professional  program with faculty developing quality course outcomes so that students learn both theory and practice.
 
Davis has since helped HACC to achieve accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She has also developed quality community relationships with Head Start and several school districts. Our students have opportunities to observe and participate in these programs as they learn to be professional teachers. Many local childcare centers and Head Start hire HACC students.
 
Martha J. Stauffer Mathematics Award Endowment
Mallary DeSantis, assistant professor of mathematics at HACC’s Harrisburg Campus, has an outstanding record of striving for innovation and excellence in the classroom.
She is working to improve student success in developmental mathematics through a more efficient use of the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) software, a web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. During her four years at HACC, DeSantis noticed that developmental students are missing different pieces of their mathematical foundation. She developed a new course, Math 281: Mathematics Readiness, which aims to fill those missing pieces and allow students to build up their mathematics knowledge.
 
DeSantis has incorporated new technologies such as Livescribe smart pens to improve her online and blended classes. She led new curriculum initiatives such as teaching the first mathematics class during the 2016-17 winter term. To promote a positive and supportive learning environment in Math 113: Principles of Mathematics for Elementary Teachers I, DeSantis adapted a growth approach where students received points for accomplishments to promote positive mathematics self-efficacy in a course that typically has many students with a mathematics phobia.
 
Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award
Kyle DiBrito serves as the director of college bookstores and has been in this role since May 2005. In his first year, DiBrito opened up bookstores at the Gettysburg, Lancaster, Lebanon and York campuses. Over the past 12 years, he has brought in electronics, textbook rentals, gift cards and digital books as well as many services to our students such as bus passes at discounted prices, nursing uniforms and a textbook student scholarship program. All campus bookstores have been renovated during his tenure to keep them modern and service-driven.
 
In DiBrito’s role, he has been able to increase revenue and services to our students by getting the bookstore approved to be an Apple^® authorized campus store and Apple^® repair center. Although Apple^® sales are limited to HACC students and employees, anyone from our community can visit the bookstore to have their Apple^® devices serviced.
 
DiBrito has been able to keep the bookstores institutionalized by managing a profitable bookstore while keeping textbooks and supplies affordable to our students.
 
From October 2015 through June 2016, DiBrito served as interim director of procurement and contracts. DiBrito serves on the Office of Finance leadership team and several task forces and committees. In addition, he has chaired several search committees over the past year.
 
DiBrito is a servant leader who serves students and employees first. He can be found on the bookstore sales floor or up front running the cash register. He visits all campuses frequently to stay on top of the trends at each. For 2018, DiBrito is working on an all-inclusive digital pilot.
 
Betty Martin Staff Development Award
Lori Friedlander will attend the Live Design International (LDI) Conference with her award. Friedlander is an invaluable asset to the College, serving as the technical director of the Rose Lehrman Theatre and lighting instructor and designer for the Theatre Department. Friedlander also supports 80 to 90 events a year in the theatre for both internal and external users. Friedlander attended the LDI Conference 17 years ago when she invented a lighting lens that was introduced at the conference and won “product of the year.”
 
Friedlander has a goal of creating a “self-operating theatre” and in order to make this happen, the lighting system in the theatre will need a major upgrade. This would result in significant energy savings and make the lighting system operable from several locations.
 
Additionally, Friedlander stays current with other forms of theatrical technology.
 
Bruce E. Cooper, Esq. Leadership Award
Margie Mattis, Ed.D., helped to establish a 2,700-square-foot Writing Center on the York Campus that serves over 26 percent of students enrolled in courses at the campus and through Virtual Learning – higher than the 17 percent of collegewide usage of  Learning and Writing Centers. The new space in the Cytec Building is outfitted with computers, collaborative learning spaces and a student resource area.
 
Mattis also assisted with the creation of a 5,000-square-foot, $750,000 welding lab in the Goodling Building. Architects and engineers were hired to design a welding shop with eight booths and state-of-the-art Lincoln weld machines. York County is the fifth largest manufacturing county in Pennsylvania with over 600 manufacturing companies. The need for trained welders has been echoed by professionals and community leaders for years, and HACC was asked to address the need.
 
Under Mattis’ leadership, the York Campus established a Student Commons area in the Leader Building with a Subway and PSECU e-center. The open, modern, green space is a vibrant hub used by hundreds of students every day.
 
In fall 2016, Mattis and her team developed a certificate in automotive technology that also helped HACC earn the NationalAutomotive Technician’s Educational Foundation accreditation for the York Campus. Auto technicians are in short supply in York County, and dealerships are actively looking for qualified individuals.
 
About the HACC Foundation 
The HACC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was established in 1985 to raise private and corporate revenues in support of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College. The HACC Foundation provides funding for student scholarships, innovative academic programs, state-of-the art training equipment and modernized facilities. To learn more about the HACC Foundation, please visit haccfoundation.org.

About HACC 
HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, is the first and largest of Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges. HACC offers over 100 career and transfer associate degree, certificate and diploma programs to approximately 19,000 students. Also, the College serves students at its Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon and York campuses; through virtual learning; and via workforce development and continuing education training. For more information on how HACC is uniquely YOURS, visit hacc.edu. Also, follow us on Twitter (@HACC_info), like us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HACC64) and use #HACCNews.