Kathleen Hetherington, EdD, higher education, Dr. Kathleen Hetherington, president of Howard Community College, announced her plans to retire on October 1, 2021. She has served as president for 14 years – the first in the college's history to be a community college graduate. Dr. Hetherington has dedicated her career in higher education to advancing the mission of community colleges. Dr. Hetherington has served as president of HCC since 2007, leading an institution nationally recognized for its strong academic programs and innovative approaches to instruction. Under her leadership, Howard Community College has grown to more than 26,000 credit and noncredit students. In total, she has worked at Howard Community College for 22 years, previously as executive vice president, capital campaign manager, and vice president of student services. During her tenure as president, Howard Community College has achieved recognition as a "Great College to Work For" from the Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink for 12 consecutive years. HCC is the only community college to be recognized every year that community colleges have been eligible for the award. Equally impressive, HCC has been named a 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner in the category of education. This award is the nation's only presidential-level honor for performance excellence in organizations.
Well respected by her peers in higher education, the Association of Community College Trustees named Dr. Hetherington as its recipient of the 2014 Chief Executive Officer Award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions and leadership of a community college president. The Daily Record recognized Dr. Hetherington three times as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women and named her to the Circle of Excellence. She also was recognized by The Daily Record with its 2018 Influential Marylander Award and as a Most Admired CEO in 2016 and 2020. Leadership Howard County honored Dr. Hetherington as a Distinguished Alumni for 2021. In spring 2019, she and the college's board of trustees were the recipients of the American Association of Community College's national Exemplary CEO/Board Award. Before joining HCC, she held progressively responsible positions at the Community College of Philadelphia, including dean of student systems. She was an adjunct professor at Delaware County Community College in Pennsylvania. Dr. Hetherington holds an Ed.D. from Widener University, a M.S. from Villanova University, a B.S.S. from Pennsylvania State University, and an A.A.S. from the Community College of Philadelphia.
Kathleen Hetherington graduated with the class of 1995 and earned her Ed.D from Widener University. Since graduation, Dr. Hetherington has dedicated her professional career to advancing community in higher education.
Shareable Link: https://alumni.widener.edu/alumni/news/updates/kathleen-hetherington-announced-retirement-howard-community-college