“Good luck and please make it about the college, not me.”
Those were the parting words of Westchester Community College President Joseph N. Hankin in a recent interview with the Business Journal.
Hankin, who is celebrating his 40th year at the helm of the Valhalla college, says it is an administrator”™s obligation to be actively involved ”“ he signs each student”™s diploma at every commencement. “People should feel they can get to me.”
And that”™s coming from an executive and educator who helped propel the school into a $420-million-a-year economic force in the county.
The testimony to Hankin”™s inclusiveness is scattered throughout the framework of the school.
WCC”™s non-credit classes reach 13,000 students a year through its Division of Continuing Education.
The Academy for Entrepreneurial Excellence offers a joint program between the college and The Business Council of Westchester for small-business owners.
There are 11-plus extension centers throughout the county; a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development grant secured last year through the U.S. Department of Labor gave the Ossining extension center”™s students the opportunity to participate in patient-care technician externships at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow.
Rapidly expanding online course programs reach about 7,700 students a year.
The percentage of minorities within the student body has exploded; WCC enrolls about 4,000 students in English as a Second Language programs each year. Hispanics accounted for 25 to 27 percent of the student makeup last year.
The 70,000-square-foot, $40.5 million Gateway Center, which opened in 2010, was designed to accommodate the college English Language Institute and Professional Development Center for corporate training. Business resources and fashion programs are also housed here.
Amid the hilly path to job creation and gains in workforce development partnerships, Hankin says the best day on the job ”“ some four decades later ”“ is still graduation day.
The worst is seeing a student drop out and “realizing they might not return for 10 years,” which is why retention and scholarship drives are personally important to him.
Hankin played a role in expanding the Westchester Community College Foundation, which seeks to support faculty and students through scholarships totaling $1 million annually.
As for his goals ”“ dismiss any rumors of retirement.
“I want to balance our budget and to keep doing as many good things as we can do,” he said.
According to WCC”™s 2009-2010 report, state aid accounted for 31.2 percent of college revenue and county contributions totaled some 22.9 percent.
