Dr. John Sygielski, seventh president of Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) announced he will be retiring in July 2025. He’s held the position since 2011 and holds the title of HACC’s longest running president.

HACC’s reputation is what lead Sygielski to Central Pennsylvania, and how valuable this institution is to the community.

“I have come to realize how generous our communities are to support our mission, especially our students. I like to say that we are the on ramp to higher education, and so many of the students who come to us, may be in need of financial assistance. And thanks to the generosity of so many in our communities. Our foundation has 300 scholarships that we are able to offer our students. And so we just are grateful for the love that we get from our community to the college.”

Some of the accomplishments includes increasing student retention rates and graduation, and raising $28,803,886 for the HACC Foundation, a nonprofit providing financial support for the college.

“I would say the other thing that I am most happy about is to hire a very diverse and capable team of senior leaders who, in my mind, have been the best senior leaders as a team that I have ever worked for and worked with because they are so committed to the success of our students.”

HACC will conduct a national search for Dr. Sygielski’s successor. 

Dr. John Sygielski, seventh president of Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) announced he will be retiring in July 2025. He’s held the position since 2011 and holds the title of HACC’s longest running president.
HACC’s reputation is what lead Sygielski to Central Pennsylvania, and how valuable this institution is to the community.
“I have come to realize how generous our communities are to support our mission, especially our students. I like to say that we are the on ramp to higher education, and so many of the students who come to us, may be in need of financial assistance. And thanks to the generosity of so many in our communities. Our foundation has 300 scholarships that we are able to offer our students. And so we just are grateful for the love that we get from our community to the college.”
Some of the accomplishments includes increasing student retention rates and graduation, and raising $28,803,886 for the HACC Foundation, a nonprofit providing financial support for the college.
“I would say the other thing that I am most happy about is to hire a very diverse and capable team of senior leaders who, in my mind, have been the best senior leaders as a team that I have ever worked for and worked with because they are so committed to the success of our students.”
HACC will conduct a national search for Dr. Sygielski’s successor.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at https://witf.org/programs/the-spark.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from <a href="https://www.witf.org">WITF</a>, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

The Spark

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

Pa. Community College President announces retirement

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is one of the largest labor unions in the state with about 51 affiliates, and 700,000 members. Angela Ferritto is the President of the organization and says there’s unions from almost every sector involved.

“We have public sector unions, private sector unions, manufacturing unions. We have building trades unions. We have nursing unions. We have unions that represent workers from airports to hospitals to teachers to clerical workers in the state offices to the construction workers on the side of the road, construction workers erecting buildings, service workers who are fixing age systems. And so, it really spans all sectors and all different professions we represent.”

Ferritto is also the first female president at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. Since women make up 50 percent of the workforce, Ferritto believes its important for more women to get involved with the labor movement.

“I think that, you know, the importance of it is that women can lend a different voice. We bring a different perspective to the table. We think about things a little bit differently. And so it's really a chance for our voices to be at the forefront and a chance for us to, you know, be, I guess. Role models on models too. To show to show girls and to show, you know, young adults like this is this is what you have the potential to become, and women can do and become anything that a man can.”

Ferritto says Pennsylvania membership is up when it comes to labor unions and offers advice for workers that would like to be represented by a union.

“I think that a lot of workers would be surprised to see how unions, how unions function in the workplace really by becoming a voice, but also by building out that relationship. It gives management a chance to hear the workers’ issues and the workers’ needs and therefore make changes to create a better workplace. And everyone knows that happier workers make for better business and better industry. So, I would say embrace it and, you know, maybe even consider being neutral in it.”

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is one of the largest labor unions in the state with about 51 affiliates, and 700,000 members. <a href="https://paaflcio.com/officers/">Angela Ferritto</a> is the President of the organization and says there’s unions from almost every sector involved.
“We have public sector unions, private sector unions, manufacturing unions. We have building trades unions. We have nursing unions. We have unions that represent workers from airports to hospitals to teachers to clerical workers in the state offices to the construction workers on the side of the road, construction workers erecting buildings, service workers who are fixing age systems. And so, it really spans all sectors and all different professions we represent.”
Ferritto is also the first female president at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. Since women make up 50 percent of the workforce, Ferritto believes its important for more women to get involved with the labor movement.
“I think that, you know, the importance of it is that women can lend a different voice. We bring a different perspective to the table. We think about things a little bit differently. And so it's really a chance for our voices to be at the forefront and a chance for us to, you know, be, I guess. Role models on models too. To show to show girls and to show, you know, young adults like this is this is what you have the potential to become, and women can do and become anything that a man can.”
Ferritto says Pennsylvania membership is up when it comes to labor unions and offers advice for workers that would like to be represented by a union.
“I think that a lot of workers would be surprised to see how unions, how unions function in the workplace really by becoming a voice, but also by building out that relationship. It gives management a chance to hear the workers’ issues and the workers’ needs and therefore make changes to create a better workplace. And everyone knows that happier workers make for better business and better industry. So, I would say embrace it and, you know, maybe even consider being neutral in it.”

First female president of Pennsylvania AFL-CIO shares about role in organization

House Resolution 87 passed with bipartisan support in Spring 2023. It would implement the use of wildlife corridors to keep people and animals safe from collisions. According to Sally Ann Sims, Co-founder and member of the Pennsylvania Habitat Connectivity, the legislation would help to support the state’s wildlife.

“So, all wildlife and we're including mammals that you see the, the rabbits, the raccoons, the deer, the bobcat, and also aquatic animals like, fish and mussels and the hellbender that's now our state amphibian, to move around. So, we're already the, the state, natural resource agencies are already working, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Game Commission and the Fishing Boat Commission in particular, are working to help, make habitat better for these, for these animals. And so, the corridors that the corridors that, that, that they move through are, areas that help them get food, may reproduce, respond to different changes in their environment so they can they can thrive, their populations can thrive. So, the corridors may not be a physical thing. It may be it may be a road crossing. It may be a big culvert that allows fish to go through. It may be just, one parcel of land between two state parks where animals are able to pass through.”

Pennsylvania Habitat Connectivity was established in 2019 to advance wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania. Members of the organization realized there was a lot of activity done in other states, but not so much in Pennsylvania.

“So, there are several natural resource agencies in the state that already their work already overlaps with, with maintaining corridors, building corridors, encouraging wildlife movement. And we wanted to see if we could help in some way to get them to organize and prioritize wildlife borders around the state so that more work could be done in that area. And we could help with habitat connectivity in the state and throughout the region, because Pennsylvania is a really key state in terms of species moving north for climate change and back and forth with several different states to help them maintain healthy populations.”

The wildlife corridors would also slow down the spread of diseases among the animals.

“So, without the corridors, there's a there's the primary the primary, stressors that they're facing now are development for housing and commercial development. So if a subdivision goes in and there's, say, foxes and different animals in that area, they need to be able to move to another area where they can get the resources that they need. Invasive species are moving, into Pennsylvania. We've we've noticed the, the lanternfly in particular. But there's diseases and there's species that are moving in that animals can use that ability to move to, to help regulate that. Like if, if there's a disease among certain mammals, they can move and spread out more. They can move from areas away from where it's concentrated. So mostly there's there's development, there's pollution, there's invasive species, and there's climate change. Those are most of the big stressors that animals that have to seek migration and corridor pathways are dealing with.”

House Resolution 87 passed with bipartisan support in Spring 2023. It would implement the use of wildlife corridors to keep people and animals safe from collisions. According to Sally Ann Sims, Co-founder and member of the Pennsylvania Habitat Connectivity, the legislation would help to support the state’s wildlife.
“So, all wildlife and we're including mammals that you see the, the rabbits, the raccoons, the deer, the bobcat, and also aquatic animals like, fish and mussels and the hellbender that's now our state amphibian, to move around. So, we're already the, the state, natural resource agencies are already working, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Game Commission and the Fishing Boat Commission in particular, are working to help, make habitat better for these, for these animals. And so, the corridors that the corridors that, that, that they move through are, areas that help them get food, may reproduce, respond to different changes in their environment so they can they can thrive, their populations can thrive. So, the corridors may not be a physical thing. It may be it may be a road crossing. It may be a big culvert that allows fish to go through. It may be just, one parcel of land between two state parks where animals are able to pass through.”
Pennsylvania Habitat Connectivity was established in 2019 to advance wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania. Members of the organization realized there was a lot of activity done in other states, but not so much in Pennsylvania.
“So, there are several natural resource agencies in the state that already their work already overlaps with, with maintaining corridors, building corridors, encouraging wildlife movement. And we wanted to see if we could help in some way to get them to organize and prioritize wildlife borders around the state so that more work could be done in that area. And we could help with habitat connectivity in the state and throughout the region, because Pennsylvania is a really key state in terms of species moving north for climate change and back and forth with several different states to help them maintain healthy populations.”
The wildlife corridors would also slow down the spread of diseases among the animals.
“So, without the corridors, there's a there's the primary the primary, stressors that they're facing now are development for housing and commercial development. So if a subdivision goes in and there's, say, foxes and different animals in that area, they need to be able to move to another area where they can get the resources that they need. Invasive species are moving, into Pennsylvania. We've we've noticed the, the lanternfly in particular. But there's diseases and there's species that are moving in that animals can use that ability to move to, to help regulate that. Like if, if there's a disease among certain mammals, they can move and spread out more. They can move from areas away from where it's concentrated. So mostly there's there's development, there's pollution, there's invasive species, and there's climate change. Those are most of the big stressors that animals that have to seek migration and corridor pathways are dealing with.”

Advancing Conversation Corridors in Pennsylvania

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly:

Asia Tabb Speaks with Dave Wagner, the Red PA State Coordinator and Gabbi Timmins, The National Coordinator for the American Hope Project.

She also speaks with PA reporter Carter Walker and Editor and Chief Chad Lorenz of Votebeat about their reporting on election and voting related issues.

Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly:
Asia Tabb Speaks with Dave Wagner, the Red PA State Coordinator and Gabbi Timmins, The National Coordinator for the American Hope Project.
She also speaks with PA reporter Carter Walker and Editor and Chief Chad Lorenz of Votebeat about their reporting on election and voting related issues.

Pa. Community College President announces retirement

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