More than 100 well-wishers gathered at the Sandra E. Klein Cube on May 5 to toast and honor 42 retiring faculty and staff members during the 2015 farewell program for retirees.

The audience—which included family, faculty, staff and Foundation board members—noshed on fresh fruit salad, brownies and cookies, and sipped iced tea and lemonade, as vice presidents Judith Gay, Jacob Eapen and Samuel Hirsch, and several staff directors shared stories and heartfelt memories about the many contributions the retirees have made to the College over the past decades.

This year’s retirees hail from a wide range of departments on the Main Campus and the West Regional Center, including Building Maintenance, Diagnostic Medical Imaging, Counseling, Academic Advising, English, Nursing, Biology, and the Controller’s Office. Several of this year’s retirees began their career at the College soon after the College opened its doors to Philadelphia students nearly 50 years ago. They included:

• Robert Rosenberg, associate professor of Psychology, who began working at the College in 1967. A senior member of the Psychology Department, Rosenberg is widely regarded by students over the years for being approachable and welcoming and was described by Dr. Judith Gay as “an extraordinary citizen of the College.” At the event, he told the audience, “I never intended to retire. I thought the retirement letter was sent by Publishers Clearinghouse. My wife forced me to sign it. The finest people I ever met so far in my lifetime were the ones I met here at Community College of Philadelphia.”
• Sonia Ochoch, associate professor of Psychology, who is retiring this year after 49 years of service to the College. Dr. Gay lauded Ochoch for being instrumental in developing the curriculum at the College from its early years, and for her pioneering role in teaching night and online classes in psychology. Said Ochoch, “The most interesting thing is I run into students everywhere. They say, ‘Dr. Ochroch, do you remember me?’”
• Bettie Davis, assistant professor of Marketing and Management, who retires in December after 48 years of service to the College. Davis is a member of the inaugural graduating class of 1967 at the College, where she earned an associate’s degree in Executive Secretary Science before earning a bachelor’s degree at Drexel University and a master’s degree at the University of Scranton. One of the last retirees honored at the celebration, Davis looked out at the packed crowd and said, “Comparing this year’s graduating class to my class, we had 167 students. Now we have 2,000. I’ve seen this place grow. It’s wonderful.”

Forty-eight classified/confidential employees reached 5-40 year milestones of service to the College. That adds up to a combined total of 915 years.

That individual commitment and collective service took center stage on Wednesday, May 6 when the College community came together for the 31st annual Classified/Confidential Employees Luncheon at The Great Hall.

Staff gathered to congratulate their colleagues for their long-serving commitment to the College at the end-of-year celebration. Old school jams filled the Great Hall as employees took photos, relaxed and caught up with familiar faces.

“Today is a very special day to recognize and congratulate those who grease the wheels and make things happen around here,” said Dr. Generals, President of the College. “Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to Community College of Philadelphia for the wonderful job that you do.”

Dr. Generals, who was installed as the sixth president of the College at a celebratory inauguration ceremony and reception just days before the luncheon, expressed his thanks to the audience for the warm wishes of support he has received since the ceremony. “I really look forward to hundreds—well, not hundreds—dozens of years of working with you,” he added, to the laughter of the audience.

To cap off the celebration, the College announced its Employee of the Year, Debra Carr, a longtime administrative associate for the Registrar’s Office. Carr also received an award at the ceremony for her 30 years of service to the College.

“Debbie Carr is reliable and intentional about being a productive member of the unit,” said Dr. Samuel Hirsch, Vice President of Student Affairs. “Her experience and willingness to accept new and challenging tasks are valuable to the department. Her friendly smile and demeanor has a way of brightening up the day.”

A hard-working planning committee helped to organize this year’s luncheon, including Ruth Al-Ameen and Debbie Coley of Math, Science and Health Careers; Joyce Angelucci and Jennifer Ford of Library and Learning Resources; and Ida Swindle of the Office of Student Affairs.

To help kick off Diversity Week, Dr. Donald Guy Generals led the College community in a wide-ranging discussion about the impact of diversity on our lives and our nation on April 6 at the fourth Fireside Chat of the academic year.

Students, faculty, and staff gathered at the event at the Winnet Student Life Building Coffeehouse to share their thoughts and reflections on diversity. Since November, Dr. Generals has been holding Fireside Chats to provide the College community an opportunity to read about present and past societal issues and articulate their thoughts, beliefs and experiences. Past Fireside Chats explored Hispanic culture and life, African American history and culture, and the historical accomplishments of women.

“Encouraging diversity throughout the Community College of Philadelphia community is more than a goal. It’s a shared mindset and commitment,” Dr. Generals wrote in his invitation to the fourth chat.

The dialogue opened with a discussion on two books—one, the 1956 classic novel, Giovanni’s Room by African American writer James Baldwin, and the other, the 2007 memoir Infidel by Somali-Dutch activist and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

For Dr. Generals, Giovanni’s Room “was one of the consummate expressions of the issues of diversity. It cut across cultural, racial and sexual lines.” He drew parallels between the protagonist in Giovanni’s Room, a white American ex-soldier in Paris who feels conflicted about his sexuality, and Baldwin, an expatriate who struggled with his identity as a gay black man and left the United States to escape the sting of racism.

Dr. Generals noted that as a writer in the 1950s and 1960s, Baldwin shared similar struggles with another gay black man of that era, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was the civil rights activist who was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington but did not receive public credit for his role. Both Baldwin and Rustin, Dr. Generals said, were marginalized not just by the larger white society, but also by their fellow African Americans for their sexual identity.

The Harlem Renaissance shaped Baldwin’s views of diversity and his development as an artist and activist, Dr. Generals shared. African American writers, musicians, and artists of the Renaissance, he noted, expressed racial pride, incorporated jazz and blues into their work, and broke down racial barriers through their work.

Switching gears to present-day activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dr. Generals briefly traced Ali’s life—her life growing up in a fundamentalist Islamic household in Somalia, her escape to the Netherlands from a forced marriage, and finally, her subsequent rise to the Dutch Congress. Faced with death threats, Ali moved to the United States and is now a prominent critic of fundamentalist Islamic views of women.

One student posed a provocative question to Dr. Generals on whether fundamentalism is a reaction against the pressure to assimilate into the American melting pot.

“For me, we’re a tossed salad, not a melting pot. For me, it’s jazz,” he answered. “Each person has an opportunity to solo, but the foundation of their performance is laid with their group. So I think our strength is in our diversity, and that diversity can be coalesced into a commonality that we all appreciate, understand, value, and celebrate our differences.”

In addition to the Fireside Chat, Diversity Week featured events ranging from interactive workshops and trainings to panel discussions, films, and performances. Other program highlights included:

• A keynote address by Angela Giampolo, founder of Philadelphia’s LGBT law blog and resource directory, www.phillygaylawyer.com;
• Documentary screenings of “Storied Streets,” about the struggles of the homeless and formerly homeless, and “The History of 20G,” about the oldest Latino gang in Pennsylvania;
• A performance by Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus; and,
• Panel discussions featuring members of the Philadelphia-based LGBTQ Attic Youth Center and students of the Veterans Resource Center.

Alumni Joseph J. Williams, M.D., and Gwendolyn V. Williams, Ed.D., credit Community College of Philadelphia for not just paving their paths toward academic and career success, but for bringing them together as partners for life.

Their courtship, however, did not begin smoothly. When Joseph first asked Gwen out on a date, she declined, saying she was seeing somebody else. But her friend and matchmaker Joyce Crawley was not having it.

“She was like, ‘You told him no after I fixed you all up? No, you tell him yes,’” recalled Gwen. “We went around the whole college trying to find him, and we found him in the library at some point.”

The year was 1966, and Community College of Philadelphia had just opened its doors to students the year before. Classes were held in the former Snellenberg Department Store at 34 South 11th Street (between Chestnut and Market) while a permanent campus was being sought.

“I remember [Joyce] literally pushing me to go up there and tell him that I wanted to go out to the date,” recalled Gwen. “He put his head down and he paused for a really long time, and then he said, ‘Okay’ (laughs). That was how it all started.”

Gwen was a member of the inaugural class at the College while Joseph started the following year.

Joseph remembers the excitement among Philadelphia residents when news about the College’s opening broke. “When they announced in the newspapers and TV that they were going to start a new community college in Philadelphia, most of us didn’t believe it because promises had been made before and never came through,” said Joseph. “But when it came to fruition that summer of 1965, when people started receiving letters of acceptance, it was surreal. It was something that truly was going to happen.”

Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the College has graduated more than 54,000 students who found their path to possibilities here. Joseph and Gwen are among the College’s first alumni. Today, Joseph is a Yale University-trained urologist with over 30 years of experience in private practice in Philadelphia. Gwen, who received her doctorate at Rutgers University, is an educational consultant and adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University with 32 years of experience as an elementary school teacher.

Both Joseph and Gwendolyn recall caring faculty members who were firmly committed to providing a top-notch education to their students.

“My favorite faculty member was Dr. Ruby, my science teacher,” said Gwen. She remembers once studying for a test before a class so intensely that she studied through the test. “I told Dr. Ruby what happened, and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Come into my office and I’ll give you the test now.’ You got a chance to have a good rapport with the teachers and professors. We were all striving and so we had some really good times.”

For Joseph, Chemistry professor Rufus Cox was an influential mentor who propelled him toward his medical career. He hired Joseph as a lab assistant, giving him the opportunity to strengthen his grasp of the subject matter by tutoring other students. Professor Cox also taught fundamentals that fueled the budding doctor’s success inside and outside the classroom. “He taught me a lot about studying technique,” he said. “It carried over to other classes—I got an “A” in biology and an “A” in organic chemistry—I mean it was just like a whirlwind. I was more outgoing, more forceful. Professor Cox gave me that good feeling about myself and he said, ‘You can go anywhere, you can compete against anyone.’”

The couple met numerous lifelong friends during their time at the College. Joseph counts nine students from his organic chemistry class who hold M.D. or Ph.D. degrees, out of a class of 12. And like their alma mater, scores of Gwen’s former classmates are now leaders in education, including principals, superintendents and assistant superintendents.

Fifty years later, Community College of Philadelphia continues to be “the college that keeps on giving” for the Williams’ family. After Gwen graduated, her mother, brother and two nieces followed in her footsteps and either attended or earned associate’s degrees here. More recently, she learned about another nephew who is currently a Colonial. The family’s cross-generational ties to the College have inspired them to support President Obama’s proposal to make community college free for most students.

“If you’re a forward leader in the free world, you understand the importance of affordable education as one of the cornerstones of free society,” said Gwen. “If you don’t have that, you’ll have people struggling who don’t have the skills in this technological society to feed their families and live out their full potential.”

Being debt-free in their own college years helped them afford to send their daughter to Brown University, they say.

“Community college afforded us an affordable education that allowed us to slingshot back to help our kids and keep them from being in debt,” said Joseph. “We’re very, very thankful to Community College [of Philadelphia]. If I had to do it, I would do the same thing again.”

Elena Tsizer credits Community College of Philadelphia for helping achieve her vision of the American dream.

Attorney Tsizer is now a solo practitioner living and working in Framingham, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Her law practice focuses on family law, estate planning and consumer bankruptcy. She is also providing pro bono (free) legal services for the residents of several Massachusetts counties.

But when you speak to Tsizer, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1993 after emigrating from Ukraine, she makes one thing very clear—she is always grateful for the Paralegal Studies education she received at Community College of Philadelphia.

“The two greatest things about the program are a fantastic faculty, which consists of both practicing and non-practicing attorneys, who teach you how the law is truly practiced,” Tsizer said. “They teach you the skills you need to actually succeed in the legal field and outside of it. The second great thing about the program is that it teaches you how to research. The value of that skill cannot be overstated, regardless of whether you remain in the legal field or go elsewhere. I continue to use the skills I was taught here every day.”

Tsizer is a real-life example of a person who used a community college as a path to law school.

An analysis by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) in 2008 found that students starting at two-year institutions tend to succeed in law school as well as students who start at four-year institutions. LSAC also reports that more law school applicants, especially Hispanic/Latino applicants, are beginning their undergraduate education at more racially diverse two-year institutions nationwide.

She started at the College in 1996 after Philadelphia attorney Thomas Hora, who was then teaching at the College’s Paralegal program, recommended that she apply. She credits Kathleen M. Smith, J.D., director of the College’s Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society, with helping her to enroll and eventually to graduate with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Paralegal Studies in 2003.

While at the College, she worked full time as a secretary in a solo Philadelphia law practice that served Russian and Ukrainian immigrants.

After her graduation, Tsizer went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Journalism/Public Relations/Advertising from Temple University, a Juris Doctor degree from the New England School of Law and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Boston University.

Following law school, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Family and Probate Court Department of the Massachusetts Trial Court, which handles, amongst other things, the litigation of divorces, will contests, guardianship and custody cases.

Before her emigration to the United States, Tsizer was a ballet dancer in her native Ukraine, performing for the National Opera House of Ukraine, Kiev Classical Ballet Theater, and Kiev Theater for Children and Youth. An injury ended her dancing career.

Her hard work and upbeat attitude is helping secure a bright future for her. When you ask her what are among her life’s fondest memories, she smiles and says that her time at Community College of Philadelphia will always have a special place in her heart.

“This was one of the best programs I could have ever wished for,” she said. “It truly started my path to where I am today so it is truly a path to opportunity. When I attended the Paralegal Studies program, my life really didn’t begin until 5:45 p.m. in the afternoon when my classes started here. My fondest memory is actually coming here and studying and learning new things in English, which is my second language. This (College) was really my life and everything else I did all day was leading up to this.”

Darryl Irizarry, Jr.’s home in West Kensington was a sanctuary of love and stability where education was a priority and family values shielded him and his sister from the lure of the streets.

Principles and morals instilled by his parents, coupled with a curiosity about learning, enabled him to avoid the tragic ending that took the lives of some of his peers. “Some of my friends growing up — sadly — are dead or in jail or struggling because of bad choices they made. I had a foundation, which was my mother and father, and they always instilled in me the value of education,” Irizarry, Jr., 29, said. “My father always said, ‘You are going to make something out of yourself’.”

Irizarry, Jr. serves as the Annual Fund and Alumni Relations coordinator at Community College of Philadelphia, the institution from which he graduated in 2006. He and his sister are the first to receive their bachelor degrees, but their success marks an achievement for this family, which, for decades, has sacrificed to give the next generation better lives.

“My grandparents on both sides didn’t have a high school diploma,” Irizarry, Jr. said. “My parents had a high school diploma. My sister and I earned bachelor’s degrees. And now, my goal is to provide a path that will take my two children as far as they can go.”

Since our founding in 1964 and opening our doors to students for the first time on September 23, 1965, Community College of Philadelphia has served more than 685,000 individuals. The College’s graduates have risen to leadership ranks in business, government and education.

Darryl Irizarry, Sr. said that he and his wife, Glory, took time to stay involved in their children’s school-work. “At a very young age we would sit down with them and make sure they did their homework. We went to afterschool meetings with teachers. After school, we picked them up,” Irizarry, Sr. said.

Irizarry, Jr. believes that his family’s support was the crucial link, and now he is preparing his sons to climb higher on the ladder of opportunity.

As a graduate of Philadelphia public schools, Irizarry, Jr. earned top honors but needed a little help getting college-ready. He found the doors wide open at Community College of Philadelphia, the destination of choice for nearly a third of the graduates from Philadelphia’s public high schools.

“My high school lacked the ability to prepare students to get into college, and I think that Community College of Philadelphia really filled that void. It gave me the essentials I needed in order to go into a four-year college and be successful,” Irizarry, Jr. said.

He entered the College’s dual admissions program, which provided him with a seamless transfer to Temple University and some scholarship extra funds as he earned his bachelor’s degree in Business. Well-timed contributions from his parents, coupled with other scholarship and grants, enabled him avoid taking loans.

“The affordability component was huge,” he said. “That’s what allowed me not to have debt. I’m in a better position now to create a college fund for my kids because I didn’t have loans.”

Over the years, the College has served multiple roles in the lives of Philadelphians like those in the Irizarry family. It has served more than 685,000 students since opening 50 years ago, including an increasing number of Hispanic students.

Sometimes the graduates become employees, and the children of employees become graduates. Irizarry, Jr.’s sister, Jessica, graduated from the College in 2008. His mother previously worked at the institution and his father is currently employed here servicing heating ventilation and air-conditioning systems.

Today Irizarry, Jr. is working to help the next generation of children growing up in neighborhoods like West Kensington. He leads fundraising for a North Philadelphia event called Vale La Pena, which supports youth with afterschool programs and recognizes Hispanic leaders. His work with the regional chapter for the Boy Scouts of America last year helped bring back the Philadelphia Encampment, which gave many urban scouts their first camping experience.

“I want to show my sons no matter where you are in life, you should always be kind to everyone,” Irizarry, Jr. said. “And if you’ve got it, give it to others.”

Community College of Philadelphia Mathematics Professor Ji Gao is not your typical college professor. He is a citizen of the world and, in many ways, a renaissance man.

He has five degrees, including a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh. He is loved by many of his current and former students at Community College of Philadelphia, where he is a renowned mathematics researcher and writer. He is also the creator of the “Gao Constants,” a mathematical equation in which he defined a parameter to describe the squareness of the unit ball of a Banach space. He calls this research “one of his proudest moments.”

With his credentials, Gao could have applied to any college or university around the globe, but he has remained tethered to Community College of Philadelphia, drawn by the students and the opportunity to change lives.

In fact, his feelings for the College run so deep he became a student at the College for his “own personal enrichment.” He became a Music student at the College where he earned an associate’s degree in Music in 1997, putting him into an elite group of faculty who teach here, but also are alumni. He is among tens of thousands of graduates Moving Philadelphia Forward by making contributions at work and in their communities.

Gao says his time spent in the classroom as a Music student has better prepared him to teach. He looked at the institution through a student’s lens. “I love teaching at Community College of Philadelphia,” Gao said. “I totally understand that to make our students succeed it is very important for the teacher and student to form a very close bond. And I think in the 25 years that I’m teaching here, many students have improved and learned a lot. I am very excited when I watch the students walk across the stage when they receive their diploma from the hand of the president each year. So I think that student success is my success in teaching.”

Gao was born and raised in Yangzhou, China. He lived in China for the first 43 years, earning his bachelors and master’s degrees in the field of mathematics at Peking Teacher’s College as well as Nanjing University. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in China, Gao said it was very hard for the ordinary Chinese child to get an education. The opportunity for higher education was only open to very few people. He credits his mother, Haung Xiuling , a music teacher, for encouraging him to study hard. Gao came to the United States in 1984 to pursue his Ph.D. in Mathematics. He continued his education in the U.S. receiving his master’s and Ph. D., both from University of Pittsburgh.

Gao, who currently lives in Upper Darby, PA, started teaching at the College in 1990. As he has risen through the teaching ranks here, he has always continued doing scholarly research while teaching full-time in the classroom. He said doing research helps him better translate math concepts like geometry and linear algebra to students.

“You see, modern mathematics is based on basic courses we teach to our students here at Community College of Philadelphia,” he said. “ ...If you want to give students a drop of water, you must have at least a barrel of water yourself and that is why I keep active in research.”

As a personal escape to the pressure of teaching and research, Gao plays the piano and uses that instrument to help him live a better life.

“I play the piano everyday for one hour,” Gao said. “Because of my mother’s influence, I love music. Math activates the left hemisphere of your brain and music activates the right half of your brain... Math is very abstract and music is very emotional, so I think they can work together every day so you’re always happy.”

Elizabeth Crutchley is the type of worker cities across the nation are anxious to attract. She is young, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, and determined to make a difference in her community.

This first-generation college graduate is a product of the pipeline of intellectual talent that flows from city neighborhoods. A native Philadelphian, she is interested in setting down roots here and eliminating local achievement gaps, a phenomenon which stalls economic growth.

“I think a big problem is that a lot of young people move here but when they start families they end up moving away,” said Crutchley, who received an associate’s degree from Community College of Philadelphia in 2010 before transferring to Penn. “I think we need a lot more strong, smart people improving everyone’s lives in the city, not just their own. I think young urban professionals are trying to make a difference in Philadelphia.”

In addition to taking classes at the University of Pennsylvania, she works as a laboratory manager for the Penn Infant Language Center, which studies how speech develops in infants and toddlers. “We basically do observational experiments on them to determine how we acquire language. We study language acquisition and we’re particularly interested in first language acquisition,” she said. Her associate’s degree in Psychology provided a solid foundation for the field.

On track to graduate from Penn in May 2015, Crutchley plans to use her bachelor’s degree in psychology to prepare underprivileged youth to find success in class and in life. “I’ve always been interested in psychology. I took a psychology course in high school and it just really fascinated me,” she said. “I really want to help kids. Hopefully, by learning how we learn language, that will help me improve outcomes for children.”

Community College of Philadelphia plays an important role in the lives of Philadelphians whether the goal is to earn a degree, transfer or secure the cutting-edge skills that lead to career advancement. More than 90 percent of graduates responding to a recent survey reported they had jobs in the city or the region, according to the College’s 2013 Institutional Effectiveness Report. Approximately one-third of Philadelphia high school graduates who are college-bound enroll at Community College of Philadelphia.

Crutchley is one among tens of thousands of students locally who found their path to possibilities here. Born and raised in Olney and Northeast Philadelphia, she was in eighth grade when her parents moved the family to the suburbs. At age 21, the culture, convenience and active lifestyle attracted her, so she moved back to the city. Community College of Philadelphia scored extra points among her college choices because she could bike to classes here. “I think it was all bike lanes from where I lived, and I had heard good things about the professors there,” she added.

Her time spent in community college classrooms produced some pretty unexpected, dividends. “I became a better creative writer there,” she said. “I learned to think scientifically there. It was definitely a great experience.”

Derrick J.V. Sawyer was a lieutenant about 15 years ago when he met Ted Bateman, a Community College of Philadelphia instructor who foretold his future in the Philadelphia Fire Department.

“He was actually one of the first teachers who said that he believed I could become a commissioner,” said Commissioner Sawyer, a native Philadelphian who now leads the city’s 2,300-member Fire Department.

Bateman taught in the Fire Academy and, since 1985, in Community College of Philadelphia’s Fire Science program, where he serves as coordinator. “Derrick stood out,” he said. “He really did. One of the ways that he stood out was the questions he asked. He was looking ahead.”

Sawyer, who earned his associate’s degree from the College in 2004, worked his way up the Fire Department’s promotional ladder during his 29-year career. Mayor Michael Nutter appointed him to the top post in May 2014.

“I was only the second person in my immediate family to have a college degree,” Sawyer said.

Along with Commissioner Sawyer, the College has prepared legions of other firefighters since it began the Fire Science program in 1974. This fall semester, 53 students are enrolled in the Fire Science program and 90 percent of them are firefighters from Philadelphia or surrounding departments, Bateman said. Philadelphia Fire Department employees receive extra promotion points if they have a college degree. Five of the eight executive team members at the Philadelphia Fire Department have received formal education and training from the College, according to Executive Chief Peter Crespo, a 2010 Fire Science graduate who is included in that number. Sawyer appointed Chief Crespo, the first Hispanic executive to hold that position.

Since its founding in 1964 and its opening on September 23, 1965, Community College of Philadelphia has served more than 685,000 individuals. Its graduates have risen to leadership ranks in business, government and education. During the 12 months leading up to its 50th anniversary, the College will profile distinguished alumni like Sawyer whose contributions are moving Philadelphia forward and transforming its communities.

In the fire service profession, where training and preparation can be the difference between life and death, the College provided the commissioner with up-to-date industry knowledge, and helped him to identify and explore his potential. “The advice I would give to someone interested in fire service is to start at community college. It will not only help you get your degree, it will help you become more of a professional in your field,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer entered the fire department in 1985 at age 25. He attended the College off and on throughout his career initially taking one course at a time. Along the way, he encountered many memorable instructors who are experts in their fields. A class taught by retired Deputy Chief Thomas Garrity, who teaches a Fire Science course on strategy and practice, was especially helpful. “His class was actually so good that I took it twice,” the Commissioner said, adding that he needed the review when he was seeking promotion to chief.

He realized the top position was within reach when he became a Deputy Commissioner, which is the second-to-the highest rank in the Fire Department.

As Commissioner, his goal is for the City to become the safest in the country in terms of fire safety. “We believe that we will have fires, but we also believe that no one ever has to die in a fire, and that fire is everyone’s fight,” Sawyer said. To accomplish that objective, all citizens must make sure their homes and businesses have working smoke detectors, fire alarms and, if possible, sprinkler systems, he said.

Every family needs to have a home escape plan that is practiced, so everyone living in the house has walked through the home to identify and inspect all possible exists and escape routes.

“We don’t think about fire safety on a daily basis but if you practice it on a daily basis, we know that the City will have fewer fire fatalities,” Commissioner Sawyer said.

President Donald Guy Generals convened the first of several planned All-College meetings on October 13, as he pledged to keep College faculty, administrators and staff informed on key issues and promote transparency.

In a memo to employees, Dr. Generals said the purpose is to “continue the conversation about the future” of Community College of Philadelphia. The presentation was video-streamed online to allow participation by employees at the Northeast, Northwest and West Regional Centers.

During the hour-long forum, Dr. Generals covered a range of topics offering updates on Middle States accreditation, enrollment management, emergency response planning, ongoing efforts to support degree and credential completion, the importance of the 50^th anniversary and new data driven analytic tools from Civitas Learning Inc. that can guide and inform decision-making.

Recently, Community College of Philadelphia received recertification as a Leader College for Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping more students earn a college certificate or degree. Since the College earned this designation based on recent advancements in student performance, Dr. Generals led the audience in applauding this achievement and congratulating those who had worked hard to support student success.

He, again, shared his vision for developing a community of learners, where stakeholders commit to professional growth and benefit from shared endeavors. He shared a definition of learning from Professor of Psychology Barbara Rogoff of the University of California at Santa Cruz: “Learning occurs when the community participates and engages in shared endeavors stemming from a common belief system as it relates to social, cultural and educational roles.”

In addition, Dr. Generals shared other goals:

• Expand course offerings and services available on the Main Campus on Saturdays starting in Spring 2015.
• Identify a common hour in which there are few classes so that more students can participate in clubs and activities, and faculty and staff can meet and engage in critical dialogues.
• Hire a professional emergency management firm to inventory security and crisis communication needs and help update the College’s plans and protocols.
• Promote, organize and systemize the College’s efforts to promote civic engagement and participate in service learning and experiential learning opportunities.