New Deans, VP Begin Duties at Penn College

Two new academic-school deans and a senior-level administrator began their duties recently at Pennsylvania College of Technology, where the Fall 2001 semester got under way Aug. 20.

Dr. Henryk R. Marcinkiewicz is Penn College's new associate vice president for academic affairs, assisting Veronica M. Muzic, vice president for academic affairs/provost.

Dr. Edward A. Henninger is the College's new dean in the School of Business and Computer Technologies. He succeeds Terry A. Girdon, who returns to the faculty as a professor of business administration.

Dr. Nicholas J. Vitterite joins Penn College as the new dean in the School of Integrated Studies. He succeeds Diana L. Kuhns, who returns to the faculty as an assistant professor of mathematics after serving as acting dean.

Before joining the administration at Penn College, Marcinkiewicz, a New Jersey native, was the founding director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Faculty Development at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich. He has also worked as an educator in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Poland and South Dakota.

Marcinkiewicz earned a doctorate in instructional systems from The Pennsylvania State University. He earned a master's degree in education (teaching English as a second language) from Temple University and a bachelor's degree in English literature from Montclair State College, New Jersey. He studies and writes about the conditions under which people adopt innovations, specifically, the use of technology in teaching.

"The dedication of purpose among the people and the clean and tastefully landscaped campus attracted me to Penn College," Marcinkiewicz said. "I will serve the College by promoting it externally and advancing opportunities for internal collaboration."

Henninger, a South Williamsport native,earned a doctorate from The Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in business administration from Shippensburg University. Before joining Penn College, he served as an associate professor and chairman of the Business Administration Department at Lycoming College. Prior to that, he held a variety of positions in industry, serving as a marketing representative with ITT and as a distribution-center manager and new-projects coordinator for a national auto-parts chain.

"The dean position at Penn College allows me to serve students on a more programmatic leave than I could as a professor," Henninger said. "I hope to continue the unique integration of our associate- and bachelor-degree programs in accounting, management, office technology, legal/paralegal, and computer information technology, and to increase community awareness of the exceptional preparation of our graduates to meet the technologically dependent demands of the 21st century workplace."

Vitterite, an Orange, N.J., native, has more than a dozen years' experience in both college teaching and academic administration. He taught previously at St. Johns River Community College (Florida), Georgia Perimeter College, Emory University and DeVry Institute of Technology.

He worked in academic administration at Devry Institute of Technology (Atlanta), where he served as dean of General Studies, dean of the Business Operations Program, acting dean of the Accounting Program and dean of the Evening and Weekend Programs.

Vitterite earned a doctorate in American Studies from Emory University, a master's degree in English literature from Florida Atlantic University, a bachelor's degree in English from Florida Atlantic University and an associate's degree from Miami-Dade Community College.

"The mission of Penn College and my own outlook on community-based, post-secondary technology-based education are a good match," Vitterite said. "Just as important, I was impressed by the commitment to that mission, not to mention the warmth and hospitality of the people I met here at Penn College."

The College continues its search for a new dean for the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies. Those duties will be handled in the interim by Donald O. Praster, assistant dean for industrial and engineering technologies. The former dean of the school, Eric K. Albert, has returned to the faculty as an associate professor of machine tool technology/automated manufacturing.