A group of students are enrolled in a new Line Worker Certificate Program on Capital’s campus in June that will lead to employment at Eversource, the region’s electric utility.
A $20,000 grant from the Eversource Foundation with additional support from the Capital Community College Foundation is providing financial aid to a first cohort in the program that prepares participants for one of the electric industry’s essential occupations.
The 11-week certificate program prepares students to join the Eversource work force following the program’s completion as line worker apprentices. Line workers maintain and service the electric infrastructure, meeting the energy demands of homeowners, businesses and municipalities across Connecticut.
Students develop the fundamental skills required to effectively install and maintain the Electric Distribution system. The program is being offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings om campus amd online and on six Saturdays through August 11th. Students are earning a Lineworker Certificate with First Aid/CPR training, occupational and safety training ((OSHA10) and CDL permit test preparation. Grant funds are helping to defray the $2,400 tuition cost of the program for the first enrollees at Capital.
The certificate program is open to 18 year olds who have a high school diploma or GED with a driver’s license. Obtaining a CDL driver’s license will be required. Participants must have the ability to work at heights in nearly all weather conditions.
The line worker training at the College’s School of Workforce and Continuing Education renews a partnership with Eversource which sprung from electrical engineering and technical programs at Hartford State Technical College. Hartford State was consolidated with Capital in the early 1990s.
The 2021 Commencement in Pictures from the Capital Community College Foundation : On May 27th Capital Community College held its first outdoor commencement since relocating to the downtown campus in 2002. The 74th graduation exercises were held under cloudless skies at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats. (J, McNamara photos)
Capital Community College held its 2021 Commencement exercises at Dunkin’ Donuts Park on Thursday, May 27th a short walk from its downtown Hartford campus under cloudless skies.
Chief Executive Office G. Duncan Harris, Ed.D, greeted faculty, guests and 369 graduates who earned associate degrees and certificates in nursing and the health professions, accounting, management, technology, liberal arts and other disciplines.
Class of 2021 at start of Commencement ceremonies at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. The outdoor ceremony was the first held by Capital Community College since it relocated from the Woodland Street campus in 2002.
Harris, marking his third commencement at Capital as CEO, noted that the graduation ceremonies, which were also streamed virtually, was the first large in-person gathering for the college since COVID-19 shut down the campus in March of last year. “This has been a year like no other. Our country faced two pandemics. The COVID pandemic which resulted in the loss of over 500,000 Americans and the other linked to social and racial justice. This week marked the one-year anniversary of murder of George Floyd. Our college responded, with our faculty, staff, and students, and campus community engaged on the frontlines of both.”
Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad, LMSW, founder and executive director of My People Clinical Services, was the keynote speaker. He exhorted graduates to live by his motto “never stop dreaming” by challenging “yourself in ways that push you beyond what you think are your limits. What you will find is every time you reach what you think is a limit, there is more.”
“I believe that the world, our community, your family and friends need to have individuals like you who are on fire with ideas, aspirations and dreams that are not just for philosophical conversations but are actually action items in their lives. The more individuals are able to see success and achievement, the more they are able to aspire to it.”
Graduates await their diplomas during Commencement program.
Muhammad, reflecting on his work as a clinician during the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement against police violence over the last year said: “As a social worker I am seeing the need for us all to get some therapy in order to let some of the stress and trauma we have experienced individually and as a community go. I could only imagine that managing your mental health while maintaining your GPA is no easy task. Unmasking systematic racism, rallying due to the latest police shooting and protesting for the same civil rights that you read about in your books provides an interesting correlation to your studies.”
“As a social worker I am seeing the need for us all to get some therapy in order to let some of the stress and trauma we have experienced individually and as a community go. I could only imagine that managing your mental health while maintaining your GPA is no easy task.”
Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad Commencement Keynote
Muhammad, a CCC Foundation member since 2018, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Tougaloo College and his Master of Social Work degree from Clark-Atlanta University. He is a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a member of The National Association of Black Social Workers and the NAACP.
Dr. Harris concluded the program by asking the graduating class “to stay connected with your alma mater and give back. Many of you will go on to get other degrees from other institutions. Don’t forget your Capital Days. Our foundation has spent the past year revamping its operations and working on ways to make it easy to stay connected and to invest in those Capital students who will come after you.” Harris announced that his family and Nursing Assistant Professor Kristen Marie Guida’s family have pledged a leadership gift of $30,000 to help establish a nursing program annual fund at the College’s Foundation.
Four students were presented with a medallion, the College’s highest academic honor, for attaining a 4.0 grade throughout their program of study. Dr. Harris was joined by Foundation Chair David McCluskey and Dr. Alice Pritchard, CSCU’s Chief of Staff, in presenting the medallions to Mariana Kotyk, Kishan Kunver, Cynthia Emily Torres, and Regina Marie Whiskeyman. Dr. Pritchard was presented with a Capital CEO Stakeholder Award for guiding and assisting the state’s 12 community colleges throughout the pandemic.
Associate Dean for Student Services Jason Scappaticci also recognized students receiving institutional and foundation transfer scholarships and shared the achievements and contributions of Valedictorian Mariana Kotyk and her journey from the Ukraine to this country to earn her accounting degree. Professor of Mathematics Kathy Herron delivered the traditional greetings from the faculty. Dr. Miah LaPierre Dreger, Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, was joined by faculty chairs in conferring degrees and certificates to the Class of 2021.
Participants paused for a moment of silence to honor the memory of Building and Grounds Officer Peter Morgan who passed away on May 6th. “Peter was one of our staff on the front lines during the COVID monitoring access to the building in the lobby, keeping individuals accessing the building safe,” said Harris in remembering Morgan for his service to the college.
The platform party included Associate Dean of Campus Operations Eddie Miranda, Dean of the School of Workforce and Continuing Education Linda Guzzo, State Troubadour Nekita Waller, who sang the National Anthem and her rendition of Rise Up, and Rev. Dr. David Grafton of Hartford Seminary who gave the invocation and closing prayer
The ceremonies for the 74th commencement ended with a flourish as Hartford’s Proud Drum, Drill & Dance Corp led by Terry and Duffy Starks marched faculty and graduates out of the baseball stadium that is the home of the Eastern League AA Hartford Yard Goats.
Capital CEO G. Duncan Harris (left) and Keynote Speaker Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad after the 74th Commencement Exercises.
The Capital Community College Foundation is accepting applications for scholarships for the 2021-2022 academic year. The closing date for applications is June 30, 2021.
The Foundation provides merit and need-based scholarships each year to new and continuing students contingent on gifts and grants received and spendable income from endowments.
General eligibility includes entering or continuing students at Capital Community College who apply and enroll full- or part-time with satisfactory academic standing and/or scholastic achievement. Additional eligibility requirements apply to scholarships with gender, geographic or other criteria and the amount of the awards vary. There are 12 scholarships available for new and continuing students including the Annual Fund Scholarship. Alumni Scholarship, Amica Insurance Early Childhood Scholarship, Arthur C. Banks, Jr. Scholarship, St. Barnabas Guild Scholarship for Nursing, the Tanya Cleveland-Wiggins Memorial Service Award, Katz Family Scholarship, Conrad L. Mallett Scholarship, Rotary Club of Hartford Scholarship, Wellington-Lawton Memorial Scholarship, Bloomfield Warhawk Fund Scholarship and the Widows Society Scholarship for women students.
The Closing Date for Applications Is June 30, 2021
Additional information on scholarship opportunities is available at the CCC Office of Financial Aid, 950 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103 Telephone: (860) 906-5090, E-mail: CA-finaidhelp@capitalcc.edu .
Supporting The Scholarship Fund
For information on creating a scholarship fund or making a contribution, contact John McNamara at (860) 906-5102. E-mail: jmcnamara@capitalcc.edu
The Capital Community College (CCC) Alumni Wall of Fame recognizes alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their professions and communities and are supportive of CCC and the CCC Foundation.
Nominations for the Class of 2021 inductees are invited and nominators have until September 10, 2021 for their nominations to be considered.
The Wall of Fame is located at the College’s 2nd Floor Welcome Center near the Main Street windows and the Walter J. Markiewicz Community Room. Inductees’ pictures and biographies are featured alongside a plaque recognizing alumni at one of the prominent places on the downtown campus.
The Wall of Fame was established in 2019 at that year’s Changing Lives Gala when five alumni from different decades and backgrounds were selected. In 2020, another four graduates were selected for the honors at the virtual Changing Lives event. This year’s nominees will be recognized in October at the next Changing Lives event.
Through the years alumni have been recognized and student success stories shared at annual Changing Lives Galas that have been held since 2004 on the campus. The Wall of Fame provides a permanent place so that accomplished graduates will inspire continuing and new students to excel.
CCC graduates are often the first members of their family to make it to higher education and the career opportunities that come with it.
A selection committee will consider each individual focusing on but not limited to the following:
career and professional achievements and contributions;
past or present service to Capital Community College or its founding institutions;
Demonstrated leadership and public and community service.
Alums from both Capital (Greater Hartford Community College) and Hartford StateTechnical College are eligible for the Wall of Fame. Nominees must have completed a minimum of two semesters (24 credits) to be eligible.
Capital Community College’s 2021 Golf Classic held at Keney Park Golf Course on May 7th drew more than 100 golfers and guests in support of Foundation scholarships and the OASIS Center for students with military service. The event raised $28,000 and net proceeds totalled more than $14,000.
The Eversource (ES) Veterans Association, the Tee Time lunch sponsor, was joined by Patron sponsors Duncan & Garcia Harris, FK Bearings and Rajashri Paricharak. In addition to 96 players, more than 30 organizations and individuals contributed to the second golf classic organized by the College Foundation.
CEO Duncan Harris thanks golfers and sponsors at dinner program
CEO Harris presents the trophy to the 1st Place finishers from Manchester Community College
Volunteers Liza Iturrino and Amy Lemire patrol the golf course.
Teams from the Community Renewal Team and SINA on the course.
CCC’s Linda Cochiolla, Nancy LaGuardia, Marie Basche and Attorney Steve Basche
On the 18th Green
The ES (Eversource) Veterans Association Team. The Association was the Tee Time Sponsor.
Capital Golf Classic 2021 Gallery Excerpts (Anthony Cordova, John McNamara Photos)
Twenty-four foursomes participated in the Golf Classic that was postponed at this time last year because of the pandemic. Finishing in first place with a score of 61 was the team from Manchester Community College (MCC). Capital CEO Duncan Harris presented MCC’s Carl Stafford, Paul Nielsen, Brian Cleary and Peter Harris with the Capital Classic Cup. Second place went to Peralta Design and third place was won by the Braverman-Porowski foursome.
Volunteers included five student ambassadors who with Student Services Director Randall Ward helped organize the day’s activities, including Juljana Medolli, Evan Terry, Michael Johnson, Kishan Kunver and Issiah Percy Campbell.
This year’s volunteer Golf Classic Committee included Board members Attorney Dinora Lopez, Chairperson David McCluskey,Treasurer John Perkins, CEO and Foundation Secretary Duncan Harris, Amy Lemire, Donna Brown-Roberts, Gail Gardner Baxter, John McNamara, Kristen Guida, Milgrid Guzman, Marlene Hageman, Michael Ligon, Liza Iturrino, Eric Campbell, Vivian Nabeta, Alissa Palante, Randall Ward, John Lagosz, Meredith Dodge, Cathy Leary, Dawn Bunting and Maryjoan Forstbauer.
The Golf Classic Committee, building on the success of the 2019 inaugural classic and this year’s event, announced the 2022 Golf Classic will be held on Friday, May 6, 2022.
The Veterans OASIS Center for which funds were raised is a gathering place for veterans to meet each other and receive peer support, as well as to gather information about VA programs and benefits. The OASIS is equipped with computers, a lounge area with TV, Keurig, microwave, refrigerator and comfortable furniture and is located on the 4th floor of the 950 Main Street campus. The Veterans Club is a club for veterans by veterans that support each other. Veterans can network, team build, socialize, provide community service and share experiences. Capital Community College is also a member of the Student Veterans of America (SVA)
The Capital Community College Foundation maintains annual and endowment scholarship funds and provides merit and need-based scholarships each year to new and continuing students. A portion of proceeds will be benefit the annual scholarship fund.
The May 1991 issue of The Correspondent, “the newsletter of Greater Hartford Community College”, provides a look back at academic and student life one year before Greater Hartford Community College would change its name. In 1992, GHCC would merge with Hartford State Technical College in a state-mandated consolidation into Capital Community-Technical College later to be named Capital Community College (CCC).
Budget Cuts
Thirty years ago this semester The Correspondent’s front page reported on a “second annual” student and staff rally at the State Capitol to protest perennial budget cut threats from the Governor and the Legislature. With “Don’t Kill The Dream” and “Don’t Cut Our Community College Budget” placards students, faculty and staff won the support of legislators to maintain a budget that would not reduce enrollment that year, according to the story by Marketing and Information Director Susan Rand Brown.
The Correspondent’s front page May 1991
Smith College Connections
“GHCC Women to be Comstock Scholars at Smith College” shared the news that three women students, including Pyschology Professor Lilliam Martinez, current Chair of Capital’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Department, would transfer to Smith College as part of a partnership with the Northampton women’s college. Smith and GHCC created the “Connections” program in the summer of 1990 in which 25 GHCC students took summer courses team taught by Smith and GHCC professors in a five-week intensive experience on the Smith College campus. The program continued into the early 2000s.
Federal Funding and ESL
By 1991 the College had won its first federal strengthening institutions grant and funds were being used to ramp up services and staffing at the English as a Second Language Program (ESL) and tutoring in what is now the Academic Success Center.
The Correspondent’s story, “ESL: Evolution Under Title III”, related how a Title III grant enabled Professor John Christie, Professor Emerita Evelyn Farbman, ESL Coordinator Nancy Caddigan and Counselor Debbie Raimondo to add “electronic gadgetry” to the ESL Lab and bilingual tutors to accommodate students “from all over the globe.”
That expansion decades ago is the foundation for retention efforts today. In 2021, Capital is implementing a five-year federal Title V strengthening institutions grant using bilingual coaches and a Guided Pathways “commons” model to help Hispanic and low-income students enter a program of study and earn their degrees.
Poetry and “The Blue Guitar”
The May 1991 Correspondent also carried a special insert with prize-winning poetry from that year’s student writing contest. “The Blue Guitar” supplement, the name taken from Wallace Stephen’s “The Man with the Blue Guitar”, contained eight poems and an essay by students who were awarded cash prizes.
Professor Emeritus Charles Darling, who died in 2006, was the editor of The Correspondent and authored several books of his own widely recognized poetry. He was the College’s first webmaster and creator of the online Guide to Grammar and Writing that continues to draw a global audience. The emphasis on poetry and creativity that Darling and other faculty members encouraged in students a generation ago continues in today’s Humanities Department and through the Hartford Heritage Project.
English Professor Antoinette Brim-Bell is author of These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower Her poetry and critical work have appeared in various journals and magazines and she frequently participates in readings and literary events. Capital Letters , edited and compiled by English Professor Kevin Lamkins, is a blog for “emerging writers at Capital Community College” that encourages students in creative writing.
Diversity and Inclusion
“The Blue Guitar” inserts included the prior year’s “Greetings from the Faculty” commencement message to graduates. In the May 1991 issue that came from Psychology Professor Bob Heavilin and reflects, then and now, Capital’s enduring commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion:
“You have shared classroom space with students of differing racial, national, generational and linguistic backgrounds. You have traded notes and jokes and anecdotes with returning single-parent females. You have listened to questions and answers being offered by Near and Far Asians; stood in the cafeteria line with White and Black – English and Scandinavian, African and Caribbean; listened to the sweet rhythmic dialects of Hispanic, Slavic and Persian tongues; and swapped viewpoints with members of your grandparents’ generation. No other college or university in Connecticut offers such an experience.”
A 2021 nursing scholarship will honor the memory of Priscilla M. Gonzalez, a 2019 graduate and Waterbury Hospital nurse, who died last November at the age of 32.
Shenika Carroll, RN, MSN, a clinical instructor for Capital’s nursing program and member of the CCC Foundation board, is creating the award to be given in May at the end of the academic year.
“Priscilla was a determined student,” said Carroll, an alumna of Capital nursing. “She found out about her illness during the most stressful time of her life. She was assisting her teenage daughter with her first year as a freshman in high school, while completing her final year at Capital.”
Gonzalez battled her illness, graduated and passed the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to become a registered nurse in her hometown. “She was a nursing student who became family,” says Carroll. “She is the epitome of strength.”
Priscilla graduated from W.F. Kaynor Technical High School’s class of 2006. She worked for 10 years as a patient care assistant at St. Mary’s Hospital and while working full time, she attended Naugatuck Valley Community College and transferred to Capital where she earned her Nursing degree.
The $500 award in memory of Ms. Gonzalez will be made with other nursing merit awards in May and is the second scholarship established in memory of a nursing graduate. Nursing merit awards include: the Laurel Anderson Memorial Scholarship, George J. and Anna T. Repicky memorial awards, Judee R. Lauria memorial awards, Eileen Helwig Memorial Scholarship, Adam E. Staszko memorial scholarships and the scholarship in honor of Professor Emerita Dannie Kennedy.
The College’s nonprofit Foundation maintains scholarship funds and endowments and seeks support for programs and initiatives to improve academic quality, campus life and expand educational opportunity.
Capital Community College’s Golf Classic, postponed in 2020 because of the pandemic, returns in the spring on Friday, May 7th at Keney Park Golf Course. The College’s Foundation is raising funds for the Scholarship Fund and the Oasis Center , a campus resource for students with military service.
The “early bird” cost for individual players is $150 or $600 per foursome. After April 1, registration is $175 per golfer and $700 per foursome. Registration covers greens fees, golf cart, lunch, dinner and refreshments on the course.
The event kicks off at 11:30 a.m. with a Tee Time lunch buffet. The scramble format, shotgun start begins at 12:30 p.m. Dinner at The Tavern at Keney Park will follow play with a program and prize announcements in accordance with social distancing requirements. A Golf Classic Online auction will open in April and conclude on the day of the event. Dinner only guest admission is $75.
Keney Park Golf Course is located at 171 Windsor Avenue, Windsor at the Hartford-Windsor town line.
Corporate sponsorships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 and other ways to participate are available upon request. Sponsor benefits include foursomes, pre- and post event logo in the program, college media and at the downtown campus.
The Veterans OASIS Center is a gathering place for veterans to meet each other and receive peer support, as well as to gather information about VA programs and benefits. The OASIS is equipped with computers, a lounge area with TV, Keurig, microwave, refrigerator and comfortable furniture and is located on the 4th floor of the 950 Main Street campus. The Veterans Club is a club for veterans by veterans that support each other. Veterans can network, team build, socialize, provide community service and share experiences. Capital Community College is also a member of the Student Veterans of America (SVA)
The inaugural Golf Classic was held May 10, 2019 and raised funds for a pre-college transitions program for new students.
Capital Community College (CCC) is forming a task force focused on education and training leading to sustainable employment for formerly incarcerated individuals as they re-enter the community, CCC Chief Executive Officer G. Duncan Harris announced.
The task force, working with the City of Hartford’s Re-entry Welcome Center and other stakeholders and individuals, will set goals to improve the employment outcomes for members of the re-entry population who enroll and earn a credential in one of the College’s workforce classes and programs of study.
“The acquisition of a college degree or a workforce certificate is a key asset for re-entry and justice involved individuals in their pursuit of financial security after their involvement with the justice system, said Harris. “As Hartford’s community college, we have the obligation and opportunity to meet this need through the wide variety of programs we offer.”
CCC has 60 programs of study in technical, business and health care fields leading to associate degrees, certificates and transfer. Its School of Workforce and Continuing Education provides short-term training for skilled jobs in demand in the regional economy.
Harris has appointed Eddie Miranda, the College’s Associate Dean of Campus Operations, to lead the task force. Miranda, a Hartford native, has extensive experience in education at the K-12 and college levels having served as a behavioral technician and operations manager for Hartford Public Schools and as Bursar at Manchester Community College before joining CCC in 2019.
Associate Dean Eddie Miranda
Miranda serves on the boards of Community Health Resources (CHR) and CT Association for Latinos In Higher Education (CALAHE). He is a member of the alumni chapter of Lambda Theta Phi, Fraternity, Inc a group engaged in community service in Hartford. He is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University and earned an M.B.A. form the University of Phoenix.
“I look forward to mobilizing the college’s resources with our community partners to open educational and career doors for individuals returning to their community.” said Miranda. “Accessible training and education leading to a good job are essential to reducing recidivism and making second chances possible.”
CCC through its Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Center is already engaged with the City of Hartford’s Welcome Center for Re-Entry to link clients with college programs. It partners with the Urban League of Greater Hartford and other organizations that serve the re-entry population. For a number of years the College’s Conrad L Mallett Gallery on Main Street has been the site For Community Partners In Action’s highly-regarded Prison Arts Program.
David McCluskey, Legislative Liaison for the CT Department of Correction and Chairperson of the Capital Community College Foundation, said Capital offers both short term training and academic opportunities that formerly incarcerated persons need for financial stability and employment.
“The College is well situated to do more on re-entry efforts,” said McCluskey. “The recent change in federal law enabling persons who have been in the correction system to qualify for federal student aid will make a major difference in the College’s ability to provide opportunities before and after re-entry,” McCluskey stated. “Having the financial support to get a credential and employment will enable more individuals to get back to their families and community.”
McCluskey cited the decision by the Congress last December eliminating the ban on Pell grants for incarcerated individuals that had been in effect since 1994. “Second Chance Pell Grants” will expand college opportunities as part of prison reforms that include a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reducing the prison populations.
College officials said the Re-Entry task force will be finalizing its membership this month and will convene in April.
@ Capital Community College 