From the Desk of the President

Good evening, colleagues!

Over the past two weeks, I have been encouraged by the numerous stories of how you are going beyond the call of duty to support one another and ensure that our students’ needs are being met. While this pandemic is unprecedented, I am confident that your commitment to our mission remains stronger than ever. Thank YOU!

Today was a big day for HACC as we transitioned to providing excellent instruction and stellar services to our students 100% remotely. This transition has many of us wrestling with feelings of anxiety and nervousness – this is normal and to be expected. Please be reminded that we are not expecting perfection. Although we always strive for excellence, there will be bumps along the way, and we will learn and grow from them.

As you can tell by the many questions and comments submitted online by our students, they are feeling nervous and anxious as well. I appreciate the care and concern you have been giving to our students and encourage you to continue giving 100% of yourselves to our students – our top priority at HACC. They need us more now than ever before.

All of the coronavirus-related emails sent to you since January are online. All of the coronavirus-related emails sent to students are online as well. Please read this information to ensure we are communicating consistently and accurately with our students and each other. Information about the coronavirus is on myHACC in the employee and student sections. There are many resources available to you as well – this week and beyond. Please use them. Most importantly, please consider your leaders and peers as resources as well.

Also, as has been demonstrated throughout the past two weeks, please continue to be patient with and kind to each other and to yourself. Remembering that we are in this TOGETHER, we will also need to extend grace to our students and each other. No one is perfect, and all of us make mistakes. There will be some missteps this week. That is to be expected. There will be some technological challenges this week. Again, that is to be expected. There will be a learning curve this week. Yet again, that is to be expected. Despite these challenges, I am confident we will each learn from our mistakes so that we can continue positively impacting our students’ lives.

We believe in you, and we trust you. Do what you do best – inspire, motivate, serve and teach our students! I am confident we will get through this pandemic and be an even stronger institution as a result.

GOVERNOR’S 2020-21 STATE BUDGET PROPOSAL

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, the Governor released his 2020-21 budget proposal. Unfortunately, he did not propose an increase in our operating and capital funding line items. As the chair of the PA Community College’s Council of Presidents, I (and my peers) will be meeting with legislators over the next several months to try and secure additional funding. In April, we will also take some of our students and business leaders to the Capitol to meet with our state representatives, all of whom are supportive of our requests.

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ISSUES DISCUSSED

On Feb. 11 and 12, 2020, trustee Hector Ortiz and I visited with our federal legislators. During our visits with many of our House members, we received their verbal support to:

• increase the PELL grant maximum award providing annual inflationary increases to the maximum award using mandatory funding.
• offer short-term PELL grants to community colleges since we offer many short-term, high quality workforce programs that do not currently qualify for PELL grants because they are less than two-thirds of a year in length. Lowering the threshold for PELL grant eligibility to 150 clock hours will engage more individuals to access training programs for jobs in high-need occupations.
• offer second chance PELL grants to community colleges who partner with correctional institutions to offer postsecondary programs for incarcerated individuals.

In addition to their support for PELL grants, we also got them to consider creating a national student unit record data system that can accurately track completion and transfer as well as the earnings of our graduates. We believe a unit record data system will enhance the accountability of the nation’s postsecondary education system. It will allow prospective students as well as policymakers to make better decisions about postsecondary education.

We also spoke about increase investing in job training and career and technical education. Additional investments would continue to enhance funding for Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTC) programs, Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants, state grants under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program.

Finally, depending on the legislator, we asked them to support enacting the Dream Act to provide dreamers with permanent legal status. As you know, the Dream Act provides a path to citizenry for undocumented young people, including the thousands of students currently enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

"Always remember, your focus determines your reality."

~George Lucas