QCC President Rallies Faculty and Staff for Spring Semester

Spring semester began at Quinsigamond Community College with an All College Day the day before students began classes, in which QCC President Dr. Luis Pedraja reiterated the College’s mission of not resting until the College achieves 100% student success. He told faculty and staff of the challenges he faced as a young immigrant child from Cuba who struggled to learn English and who was teased by the other students because he couldn’t speak the language.  He acknowledged the many people who supported him and how it was for him to pay that help forward.

“The reality is that all of us are about student success. It was the people who took an interest in me in college that made a difference,” he said, adding that today the College is getting ready to receive students who are “trusting their futures to us.”

An annual event during All College Day is the College’s recognition of longevity of its faculty and staff. A total of 24 faculty and staff members were recognized for over 370 years of service to the College. They include:

10 years of service:

• Jennifer Arner Welsh
• Valerie Clemente-Crain
• Daniele DeAdder 
• Thomas Hebert
• Raymond Lawless
• Eric Mania
• Susan Meola
• Paula Ogden
• Robert Russell Jr.
• Lisa Schlegel 
• Liza Smith
• Linda Stake
• Karen West
• Penny West

20 years of service:

• Patricia Creelman
• Pamela Fleming
• Ireneusz Gawedzki
• James Heffernan
• Carol Rinaldi
• Victor Somma
• Barbara Zabka

30 years of service:

• Lynda Deschenes
• Jane Joyce