Dory Leahey of Palmyra, dean of Student Retention Services at the Wildwood Campus of HACC, and Jennifer L. Baker of Gettysburg, director of Student Services at the Gettysburg Campus of HACC, both were nominated by HACC President Dr. Edna Baehre.
The year-long LEADERS 2004 program, designed to enhance the skills participants need to assume major decision making roles in their institutions, includes institutional practice in supervisory and human relations skills, planning and budgeting, and organizational transformation as well as discussions with national experts on the issues confronting higher education during the next decade.
During the program, both Leahey and Baker will be mentored by Dr. Subrina Smith-Taylor, dean of Enrollment Services at HACC, to work on projects that will aid the college and foster individual professional growth.
Newly promoted to dean of Student Retention Services following a national search, Dory Leahey is the former associate dean of Academic Affairs at HACC's Lebanon Campus.
After joining the staff at the Lebanon Campus in 2000, Leahey initiated class sites at Fort Indiantown Gap, South Hills Park and the Lebanon YMCA. She started Lebanon Campus' first College in the High School program, enabling academically strong high school students to complete a number of college credits before graduating high school.
She previously was department chair and instructor for Developmental Studies at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, OR, and lead instructor in the English department at Cambria County Area Community College in Johnstown. She also taught at the high school level in Clymer and Stoneboro, PA.
She has a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in secondary education/English from Westminster College in New Wilmington.
Jennifer Baker joined the HACC staff as a counselor in 1993. She has risen from instructor to assistant professor Counseling, with tenure, and become coordinator of Student Services in 2000.
In 2003, she was promoted to associate professor of Counseling and named as director of Student Services at the Gettysburg Campus, where she oversees recruitment, admissions, registration, financial aid, advising, counseling, the learning center and other student services.
Baker also initiated and developed a student orientation program, transfer days, and annual student recognition events. Baker earned a bachelor's degree in psychology magna cum laude from Susquehanna University and a master's degree from Shippensburg University in counseling with college student personnel concentration. She is a PA Licensed Professional Counselor and a National Certified Counselor.
She is a board member of Adams County Head Start. She resides in Gettysburg with her husband, John, and two sons.