From the 2005-2006 Annual Report
Highlights of the Year
International Holiday Wine Tasting
The second annual International Holiday Wine Tasting was held in the College Atrium on November 18 and proved to be an even greater success than last year's event, drawing enthusiastic supporters from both the College and the community.
Attendees sampled an impressive array of food donated by twenty area restaurants, and sipped a variety of wines that were provided by local distributors and coordinated by New England Beverage Company. The festivities included a silent auction and musical entertainment by HCC's Hernan Yepes and German Bermudez, with Assistant Professor Geoffrey Sheehan acting as emcee.
The event's success was due in large part to the support of the Foundation Board and the extraordinary effort put forth by Director Member Marianne Laska, who chaired the event for the second year in a row. The third annual International Holiday Wine Tasting is scheduled for November 17, 2006.
The Foundation Board wishes to thank the following sponsors of the International Holiday Wine Tasting:
Presenting Sponsor: Pitney Bowes
Silver Sponsors: Pullman & Comley, Merit Insurance and Bigelow Tea
Bronze Sponsors: D'Addario Pontiac, Buick, GMC/D'Addario Nissan, Mr. & Mrs. Edward Dowdle, Leask & Leask, P.C., and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Laska
Media Sponsor: The Connecticut Post
Spring Luncheon & Fashion Show 
The Inn at Longshore in Westport was the site for the first Spring Luncheon and Fashion show. Held on April 2, the event featured women's fashions by Posh of Fairfield and Talbots of Westport, all modeled by Housatonic students, staff, department chairs and administrators including Academic Dean Anita Gliniecki and HCC President Dr. Janis Hadley. The models were escorted by Humanities Department Chair Peter Ulisse and Acting Dean of Students Hernan Yepes. Diane Farrell, former First Selectwoman of Westport, served as Mistress of Ceremonies while the Wayne Hiller Jazz Trio provided musical entertainment.
Foundation Board Member Marianne Laska chaired this event as well, and graciously attributed the event's success to the generosity of the sponsors and contributors, and to the commitment of time and effort put forth by the models and their escorts.
Special thanks go to the supporters of the Spring Luncheon & Fashion Show, including:
Posh of Fairfield
Talbots of Westport
Ricci's Salon/Spa/Academy
Camillo's Tuxedo Specialist of Norwalk
Bigelow Tea
The Connecticut Post
Many area businesses who contributed to the gift bags and raffle prizes.
Industrial Technology Program
In Connecticut and at a national level, the need for trained workers in manufacturing is critical in order to maintain a viable economic base. In recognition of that need and with the knowledge that industrial technology is a growing field with tremendous opportunity for career advancement, HCC established the Industrial Technology Program. This program provides students with both general education core and industry specific courses that will enable them to enter industry upon graduation, and responds directly to requests from local manufacturers for programs to train new employees and to further train current employees for advancement within their industries.
The program also offers students the option of selecting higher level science and mathematics courses designed to complete the majority of a pre-engineering curriculum, providing the basis for transfer to a four-year academic institution.
Sikorsky Aircraft, a Stratford-based world leader in the design and manufacture of advanced helicopters, has awarded a grant of $20,000 to supplement the implementation of this important new program.
The Middle College Pilot Program
Just over a year ago, Housatonic Community College faculty and staff developed the Middle College Pilot Program in partnership with Bridgeport's Warren G. Harding and Bassick High Schools. This pilot program was initiated to address the serious problems faced by students who enter the College with academic deficiencies that seriously limit and often prevent their achievement in the classroom and ultimately, their successful entry into the workforce. The Middle College Pilot Program was structured to help remedy these problems by providing those students with a significantly greater level of college preparedness.
Last fall, the program brought forty high school seniors to Housatonic Community College where HCC faculty teamed with teachers from both high schools to teach select courses for high school and college credit. Emphasis was placed on improving the students' basic skill levels - particularly in the areas of language arts and mathematics, while helping them prepare them for higher level courses. Additional efforts were made to increase the students' motivation to continue their educations at four-year institutions.
The first year of the program was considered a success, not only because of the progress made by the students involved, but also because the process itself provided the College with a significantly greater understanding both of the mindset of the incoming students and the severity of the impediments they face. That knowledge has helped HCC educators tailor the program to better meet the students' current and anticipated needs. HCC will be expanding the program from forty to sixty students for the fall of 2006.
The first year program was funded through Housatonic Community College and Bassick and Warren G. Harding High Schools and through nearly $60,000 in multiple grants from the Charter Oak Challenge Foundation, The Fairfield County Community Foundation, the Bridgeport Priority School District, GEAR UP (Bridgeport), GEAR UP (State of Connecticut), the Ralphola Taylor Center (YMCA) and a number of individual donors. The Xerox Foundation and The United Illuminating Company have already awarded funds in support of the 2006-07 program.
Major Gifts Campaign
Early in 2005, the Foundation Board launched its first Corporate Appeal, with the goal of demonstrating to the business community the significant impact HCC and its highly-skilled graduates have and will continue to have on the regional economy. Due in large measure to the efforts of the Board and in particular, the dedication of Director Paul Antinozzi who chaired the campaign, the appeal brought in a number of existing and new donor contributions.
This past spring, the Board announced its plan to introduce a Major Gifts Campaign - which represents the logical evolution of the Corporate Appeal. Paul Antinozzi, who again has agreed to serve as Campaign Chair, will be working closely with other Directors in conjunction with the Clements Group, L.C. - highly regarded specialists with proven expertise in assisting community colleges in analyzing and quantifying their needs, analyzing their funding sources and in developing strategies and processes to make their visions become realities.
The Major Gifts Campaign is being initiated to meet specific objectives, which include the following:
- a student success component that will provide for academic support services and increased use of instructional technology,
- a scholarship initiative to increase the dollars available to support educational goals,
- enhancements to the Middle College Pilot Program and the initiation of a new high school Bridges Program,
- a Museum component that will support special exhibits and conservation efforts,
- the development of a fund to finance emerging opportunities that will allow the College to implement new programs to enhance students' success.
In addition to those goals, the Board is confident that the campaign will serve to open doors to the business and civic community and become a forum to show how the mutual success of the College and that of the community is inter-dependent.
Awards Night 
Students, faculty, staff, family and friends attended the thirty-ninth annual Awards Night on May 30, 2006. This event was held prior to graduation to recognize outstanding students and the generous individuals, groups and organizations that support them. General Electric and the G.E. Elfun Society sponsored the event for the eighteenth consecutive year.
Twenty-seven Housatonic Foundation Scholars who received their associate's
degrees this year were honored both for their academic achievements and
for having been the recipients of scholarships or financial awards during
their educations at HCC.
Other financial awards provided by the HCC Foundation included:
The Beverly G. Anderson Memorial Award
The Burt Chernow Scholarship
The Jeanne DuBois Scholarship
The Ralph Fabrizio Scholarship
The Flint Prize (awarded to the recipient(s)
of the Academic Dean's Award)
The Robert Gerard Naples Award
The Joyce Gerber Early Childhood
Education Endowed Scholarship
The HCC Foundation Dale Ward Endowed
Scholarship Award
The Jane Mahoney Memorial Award
The Marshall Rachleff Scholarship
The Frank J. Scallon Foundation Merit Award and the Frank J. Scallon Foundation
Scholarships
The Swain Award