The college gathered on two occasions in the past few weeks to say farewell, but not goodbye, to two administrators. Sharon L. Blackman, Ed.D., left her role as president on Sept. 1 to take on the role of the senior associate vice chancellor of educational affairs and district chief workforce and retention officer for the district.
Formerly splitting her time between the district office and Brookhaven College, Mary Brumbach, Ph.D., permanently moved to the District Development Office on Aug. 12. Her farewell reception was Sept. 10.
Dr. Blackman’s new position will focus on putting a structure in place to coordinate and measure the success of retention initiatives. For the past four years, the college has been one of 27 institutions participating in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative. The focus of the grant-funded program has been to enhance the academic success of low-income and minority students. The college has developed initiatives and strategies to address the specific needs of these students. Sharon will be taking these efforts and working to adapt them to the entire district to improve student success.
There aren’t many people, though there seem to be more in the DCCCD, who can say they have dedicated their entire careers to one organization and one belief—building the community’s college. Mary will continue to serve the goal of creating opportunities for students and her community through education. Mary’s new role at the district is as executive district director for strategic funding at the District Development Office. The reception at the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute let her friends and colleagues honor her service and hard work for the college. Mary has spent more than 35 years serving the district, with 27 years serving at Brookhaven College. In her years with the college, she raised more than $100 million in grants and donations for the college.
Mary was instrumental in creating and building the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute, from a multi-million dollar donation from Ellison Miles. Since then, with continued support from the Miles Foundation, she has seen the EMGI earn a national reputation for innovative programming for oil and gas and geoscience professions and become an important resource in K-12 training for science teachers.
Friends shared kind words, and small remembrances were given. Both Sharon and Mary assured everyone that while they may be moving to new offices and new responsibilities, they were not truly leaving Brookhaven College behind.
