Pa. Community College President announces retirement

The Spark

Dr. John Sygielski, seventh president of Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) announced he will be retiring in July 2025. He’s held the position since 2011 and holds the title of HACC’s longest running president.

HACC’s reputation is what lead Sygielski to Central Pennsylvania, and how valuable this institution is to the community.

“I have come to realize how generous our communities are to support our mission, especially our students. I like to say that we are the on ramp to higher education, and so many of the students who come to us, may be in need of financial assistance. And thanks to the generosity of so many in our communities. Our foundation has 300 scholarships that we are able to offer our students. And so we just are grateful for the love that we get from our community to the college.”

Some of the accomplishments includes increasing student retention rates and graduation, and raising $28,803,886 for the HACC Foundation, a nonprofit providing financial support for the college.

“I would say the other thing that I am most happy about is to hire a very diverse and capable team of senior leaders who, in my mind, have been the best senior leaders as a team that I have ever worked for and worked with because they are so committed to the success of our students.”

HACC will conduct a national search for Dr. Sygielski’s successor.

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.