NCC President Mark Erickson to Speak at ESU’s Winter Commencement Ceremony

Posted by: admin on December 8, 2014, No Comments

Mark H. Erickson, Ed.D., president of Northampton Community College, will be the keynote speaker for East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania’s winter commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 13, at 9 a.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse.

Dr. Erickson has strong ties to the communities Northampton serves. He earned a doctorate in educational leadership at Lehigh University, where he received the Mathew W. Gaffney Award for Academic Excellence. He served in several important positions at Lehigh University, including dean of students, associate vice president and executive assistant to the president, and vice president for administrative and government affairs.

Erickson earned a bachelor’s degree in American history from Princeton University and a master’s in education from Harvard University. He also completed additional study in world religions and pastoral care at Harvard Divinity School. In 1997, he was selected as one of 32 recipients nationally for an American Council on Education Fellowship.

Previously, Dr. Erickson served as president of Wittenberg University, where he was credited with facilitating the development of new academic programs, expanding international exchange opportunities, and fostering a close and mutually beneficial relationship with the city of Springfield, Ohio. In 2010 he was named Leadership Clark County’s Leader of the Year.

During his first year in office at Northampton, Dr. Erickson engaged more than 700 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community leaders in identifying five strategic priorities that will enable the college to respond to the changing needs of students and the community. The areas of strategic focus have driven the college’s increasing emphasis on expanding student outreach, increasing student success, deepening community engagement, enhancing diversity, broadening global initiatives, and leading in the use of educational technology.

The most significant accomplishments of Erickson’s tenure at Northampton include the college’s selection as the only Pennsylvania community college to be named to the Aspen Institute’s top 150 community colleges in the nation; garnering a $10 million federal grant as the lead partner in a three-college consortium to prepare residents of northeastern Pennsylvania for high-demand careers in healthcare, advanced manufacturing and logistics/transportation; selection as one of four winners for the first 100,000 Strong in the Americas Grant; recognition as the #4-ranked large community college in the nation for advances in technology by The Center for Digital Education; the college’s selection in 2013 as the “best place to work” among large employers in the Lehigh Valley; an unprecedented fifth time recognition for Overall Fundraising Excellence by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education; the opening of a new $72 million 84-acre campus built to LEED Gold standards in Monroe County; and the construction of new residence halls on the Bethlehem Campus to be completed by summer 2015.

As Northampton’s chief cheerleader, fundraiser and student advocate, Dr. Erickson serves on the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, the Lehigh Valley Partnership Board, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors, the Lehigh Valley Early Learning Coalition, the Manufacturers Resource Center Board of Directors, the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Board of Directors and the PA Campus Compact Board.

Dr. Erickson currently resides in Bethlehem.