Hudson County Community College Named ‘2022 Great College to Work For’

Home to 18,000 full- and part-time students, HCCC is also home to nearly 1,000 employees, 40% of whom are former students. Anna Krupitskiy, HCCC Vice President for Human Resources, said that when Dr. Reber began his presidency in 2018, he focused on climate, culture, and community, addressing morale, salaries, and developing more trusting relationships between administration and all employees. 

Dr. Reber inaugurated and conducts Monthly Town Hall Meetings and provides other platforms for faculty, staff, and students to learn recent HCCC developments, and participate in dialogue with College leaders and one another. “This has empowered members of the College community to develop vertical relationships with colleagues, which in turn has led to many collaborations, partnerships, and alliances within the College and with external community partners,” 
Ms. Krupitskiy stated.

At the start of Dr. Reber’s tenure he also developed collaborative relationships with each of the College’s four collective bargaining units: Professional Association, Academic Administrative Association, Adjunct Faculty Federation, and Support Staff Federation. The fresh sense of collegiality and collaboration resulted in new, three-year contracts for all four collective bargaining units being resoundingly approved in May of this year by the HCCC Board of Trustees.

In 2019, Dr. Reber created the President’s Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (PACDEI). The council consists of more than 40 members of the HCCC community – students, faculty, staff, and external community members who work together to foster a welcoming, diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment that embraces and celebrates shared values among all constituencies. 

One of the first projects undertaken by PACDEI was a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) climate survey that was distributed to the entire College community. Responses from more than 800 individuals – students, trustees, faculty, staff and administrators – formed the basis for the development of four key goals: (1) Supporting an inclusive culture of care at HCCC, including DEI infrastructure and training, programs and initiatives across the College; (2) Weaving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guidelines and best practices into recruitment and hiring practices, screening committee polices, promotional considerations, and succession planning for more diverse faculty, staff and administrators; (3) Creating clear and transparent processes for safety, security and incident reporting that are free of intimidation and respectful of confidentiality; and (4) Building community and a sense of belonging for students by advancing their academic development, professional growth, and personal transformation. In Summer 2021, HCCC established the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and appointed the first Vice President for that area, reporting to the President as a member of the College cabinet.

To support the College’s commitment to bringing salaries to market rate over time, HCCC engaged in a two-year study by Evergreen Solutions, LLC to evaluate and update compensation and classification systems in order to help ensure internal and external equity. By December 2021 the College circulated the study recommendations to union leadership and the College community at large. An HCCC employee tweeted: “My institution hired a firm to do a compensation and classification study and has made the entire report, with all the recommendations, public to the college community. This is how you model transparency.”

Dr. Reber believes the College has been successful in supporting students in large measure because HCCC supports the professional development and success of faculty and staff. HCCC provides a comprehensive offering of professional development opportunities including participation in the “Teaching at a Community or Technical College” program through the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD); offering Professional Development Day workshops; hosting the Annual Adjunct Faculty Conference; organizing and holding College Service Day and Convocation each fall and spring; developing and offering an All College Faculty Orientation; making Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) certificate training, E-Cornell Diversity and Inclusion certificate training, and Title IX training available to faculty, staff, and students; and offering up to $9,000 annually for each full-time employee to participate in approved credential attainment and professional development activities.

HCCC also makes it possible for faculty and staff to attend in-person conferences, workshops and institutes, and participate in webinars hosted by Achieving the Dream, Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), NISOD, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, College and University Professional Association (CUPA) for Human Resources, American College Personnel Association, National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education, and many others.

An employee who was honored for twenty years of service at HCCC wrote to thank the College for commemorating the milestone with a special plaque and pin: “I wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. I really loved it, and it made me proud to be an employee of the College and let me know that all those years of service are appreciated by Hudson County Community College administration and Board of Trustees. I just had to let you know how grateful I am to be a part of HCCC.”