Kudos
John J. “Ski” Sygielski, president of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, and a member of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) board of directors, has been named to Central Penn Business Journal’s 2022 Power 100 List. The recognition honors individuals from law, finance, education, government healthcare, business and nonprofits who shape local communities and influence the quality of life in the region. “They are leaders — some quite prominent and well-known – as well as those who are behind-the-scenes change-makers,” the publication said in its announcement of the list.
Obituary
George A. Baker III, an educator and renowned scholar in community college leadership, passed away on January 29. He was 89.
Baker authored or co-authored more than 250 books, monographs, chapters, journal articles and technical reports related to community colleges, many of them published by AACC, including the 1994 A Handbook on the Community College in America: Its History, Mission and Management. He spent much of his career at the University of Texas-Austin in its Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) and it the college leadership program at North Carolina State University.
After a long career with the U.S. Marine Corps that included teaching at the U.S. Naval War College and serving in the White House staff under President Lyndon Johnson, the lieutenant colonel moved to the community college sector, where he became dean of instruction and vice president for academic affairs at Greenville Technical College (South Carolina) from 1976 to 1978. After meeting national community college researcher and scholar John E. Roueche who was director of CCLP, Baker joined the program’s faculty in 1978. At the university, he founded a new Kellogg Foundation-funded initiative that would become National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and also established the National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE). While at UT-Austin, he mentored dozens of students into community college leadership positions and frequently co-authored publications with John and Suanne Roueche.
In 1992, Baker assumed an endowed chair in community college leadership at North Carolina State, a post he held until 2001, when he became a consultant.
Over his career, Baker earned numerous kudos, including the 1994 AACC Leadership Award and the 2001 Paul A. Elsner Excellence in Leadership Award from the Chair Academy. In 1996, Baker served on the AACC board of directors.
