A Leader In Learning

When Gena Glickman recently began her post as the new president of Manchester Community College, she also became its first woman to head the school.

Glickman comes to the college from Elgin Community College in Illinois where she was vice president for teaching, learning and student development.

The Long Island native received her bachelor’s degree in general fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1974 with the aspirations of working as an art therapist. During college, Glickman worked weekends at the Foxleigh Developmental Center with children that had disabilities.

“I really loved that job and got such a pleasure out of watching the kids’ light bulbs go off when they discovered something new,” she said.

A mishap with the airlines changed her track to counseling. Glickman had brought her art portfolio with her to a graduate school interview in Louisville, Ky. When she made the return trip, the portfolio didn’t make it back. Past the deadline for applying to art therapy programs, Glickman ended up graduating with a degree in counseling and education from Johns Hopkins University School of Education in 1976.

“I thought it was natural at that point to apply to colleges for counseling jobs and I started as a program coordinator for a youth service bureau before doing counseling at Bay College of Maryland,” she said.

When the inner-city private junior college closed, Glickman became a counselor at the Essex Campus of the Community Colleges of Baltimore County, where she stayed for seven years as a tenured faculty member.

“The dean of the college and other administrators convinced me that it would enhance my career if I went for a Ph.D.,” Glickman said. “It allowed me to create a much more linear plan for myself than I had previously. I finally found a way to fit my interests in the education world.”

With several other higher education positions under her belt and her doctorial education in policy and planning with a focus on education history from the University of Maryland, Glickman thought it was time to take the helm of an institution, to be an even bigger influence on the direction of student lives.

“I realized that I could make a big stamp on the community, in the institution and for students, to direct the future of a college and its culture,” she said.

Emily Boisvert is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.