Retired president Golladay reflects on accomplishments at Harford Community College

Dennis Golladay beamed with pride recently as he walked through Darlington Hall, the home of all nursing and allied health programs and the newest building on campus.For Golladay, 74, the walk across campus was another chance to reminisce about his six years spent leading HCC, which ended July 29 when his retirement as the college's president officially started. Dianna Phillips, the ninth president of HCC, started work Aug. 1. She is the former CEO of the University of the District of Columbia Community College in Washington, D.C.Golladay, whose career in higher education spans 45 years, said he would occasionally visit Darlington Hall, one of several major campus facilities completed on his watch. Darlington Hall opened in the spring of 2015, and the ground was broken in 2013, about halfway through Golladay's tenure. Top-of-the-line technology has been incorporated into classrooms throughout the building.&quot;Often when I walk through there, students tell me how much they love the building, and faculty too,&quot; he said, adding that the building &quot;has done exactly what we want it to do.&quot;Students and faculty in different nursing and health care programs &quot;could cross fertilize, they could collaborate,&quot; according to Golladay.The building even bears the Golladay name – that of his wife of 22 years, Mamie Howard-Golladay, who has worked as a nurse, a nursing instructor and later a community college president.Howard-Golladay retired as president of Sullivan County Community College in New York in 2011. A plaque bearing her name has been posted outside a Darlington Hall study room.His wife lives in the Catskill Mountains region in New York, and Golladay has been living in Jarrettsville, while leading HCC. He said he would still like to have &quot;a presence&quot; in Harford County, even though he is no longer leading the college.&quot;I've grown to like it very much, and there are a lot of good people here,&quot; he said.HCC was 'a good fit'&quot;What you always want is what you call 'that good fit,' and Harford was just a perfect fit for me, and I hope I was a good fit for the college,&quot; Golladay said.A native of the Shenandoah region of Virginia, Golladay started his higher education career as a history instructor at Pensacola Junior College in Florida in 1972. He had been a middle and high school teacher in Virginia.&quot;I've taught everything from seventh grade to graduate school,&quot; he said. &quot;I was in love with the classroom; I love to see the light go on in students' eyes.&quot;Golladay taught for 25 years, and he spent the rest of his career as an administrator. He was dean of the School of Humanities at Pensacola Junior College, vice president for academic affairs at Anne Arundel Community College, president of Cayuga Community College in Auburn, N.Y. and vice chancellor for community colleges in the State University of New York system before assuming the HCC presidency.&quot;It's kind of been the high point of my career in higher education,&quot; Golladay said of his time at HCC.He has stressed a hands-off approach when managing his senior staff.&quot;My attitude is, you have a job to do,&quot; Golladay said. &quot;I don't want to interfere with it, just do it well,&quot;He said his top aides have made his job much easier, as well as dedicated faculty and staff.&quot;I think [HCC is] in excellent condition, and the reason for that is, we do have an excellent staff and faculty here, and they're proud of the college,&quot; he said.A community college president does not just manage the day-to-day operations of the college.Harford, which has about 9,000 students taking classes for credit and about 11,000 continuing education students, hosts many continuing education and job training programs.The president must have strong relationships with the business community, the school system, potential donors and county and state leaders who provide a large chunk of annual operations funding – the rest comes from tuition and fees.Golladay inherited a college in strong shape and community relationships established by his predecessor, James LaCalle, who retired in 2010.&quot;Dr. LaCalle was very good at building relationships, so the groundwork was already there,&quot; Golladay said.He also gave special credit to Carol Sherman, the executive assistant to the president, for helping to keep him on track with his daily duties.Sherman has worked at HCC for 35 years and been an executive assistant to five presidents, including Phillips.Sherman, who graduated from HCC in 1965, will retire in September.&quot;He is a man of great integrity,&quot; Sherman said of Golladay. &quot;He brought a wealth of knowledge to us from his past experiences so he could continue leading the college in its tradition of excellence.&quot;'Genteel style'Golladay has not lost his mellow Virginia accent, despite having lived in different parts of the country since his youth.&quot;He has a genteel style of dealing with people,&quot; HCC trustee James Valdes said. &quot;It's that Southern, genteel gentleman type of an approach, and I think at a community college that's pretty important.&quot;Valdes has been on the HCC board since 2007 and stepped down as board chair earlier this year.He was part of the screening committee, composed of trustees, administrators, college staff, faculty, students and community members, that selected Golladay as a finalist for the presidency in 2010. The board of trustees made the final selection.Bryan Kelly, managing member of The Kelly Group in Bel Air, served on the HCC Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2015. He was the board's chair when Golladay was hired.&quot;Dennis had a tremendous depth of experience in the community college world,&quot; Kelly said Monday. &quot;I really believe he was the right person at the right time for our college.&quot;Kelly said Golladay has left &quot;a great foundation&quot; for Phillips.&quot;I'm sure she's going to carry that forward with her vision,&quot; Kelly said.Projects come to fruitionSeveral major projects, in addition to Darlington Hall, have been completed on the HCC campus during Golladay's tenure.The Towson University in Northeastern Maryland, or TUNE, building opened in the fall of 2014 on the west side of campus. Under a &quot;2+2&quot; partnership between HCC and Towson University, students can earn their associate's degrees at the community college and then cross Thomas Run Road to take upper-level TU courses to earn a bachelor's degree from Towson.The 2+2 partnership was conceived during LaCalle's tenure, and the project was completed on Golladay's watch.The APG Federal Credit Union Arena opened in 2012. The facility has hosted Fighting Owls sports, Harford County Public Schools high school commencement ceremonies, concerts, community events, as well as the funeral service for Harford County Sheriff's Office Deputy First Class Mark Logsdon, who was killed in the line of duty Feb. 10.The arena is also used for HCC's spring commencement.&quot;I feel so good when those students walk across the stage and I get to shake their hands and congratulate them,&quot; Golladay said.Kelly and Valdes also praised Golladay's leadership in getting the college's finances in shape.The college has dealt with financial difficulties in recent years as enrollment has dropped and county and state funding have been sluggish. HCC also had to pay out up-front costs for the major construction projects during his tenure and then wait for state reimbursement, Golladay noted in an interview two years ago.HCC tuition has increased each year since 2010, student fees have also increased and money from the operating fund balance, or cash reserve, was transferred to balance the next year's budget on several occasions.Revenue from the general operating budget also was transferred to cover gaps in revenue and expenses in auxiliary funds for college venues and programs such as the Harford Sports Complex athletic fields, the arena, the campus bookstore and dance and theater companies.Those auxiliary funds are designed to be self-supporting through revenue raised through events or fees charged to use the facilities.Structural deficit attackedThe latter issue came to a head in early 2014 when leaders of some community baseball leagues that play on campus protested steep increases in the fees charged by the college to use the fields, part of an effort to raise more revenue for the Harford Sports Complex auxiliary fund.The fee increases came to the attention of state legislators and the Harford County Council, and three league operators were eventually able to negotiate more affordable rate increases with HCC.During the controversy, Golladay acknowledged the college was dealing with a recurring structural deficit because total revenue was not keeping up with expenses. He said increases like those he proposed at the sports complex were necessary to balance the budget.Valdes, who was then trustees chairman, laid down a mandate in late spring of 2014 that the deficit needed to be closed. That meant saving money wherever possible, but also more increases in tuition and student fees.The fiscal 2016 and 2017 budgets were balanced without transfers from cash reserves. Valdes said reaching that goal was a &quot;team effort&quot; that included the board, Golladay and Rick Johnson, vice president for finance and operations.&quot;Most of all, it required Dennis to make it clear to the state, to the county and to the community that we weren't raising tuition just to raise it,&quot; Valdes said.Kelly gives Golladay credit for &quot;developing internal fiscal management among his senior staff.&quot;A parting giftGolladay has been praised by HCC alumni and community supporters for his fundraising efforts to help underwrite scholarships and the college's new facilities.Those relationships helped Golladay garner support for a legacy fund he established, the Student Emergency Assistance Fund.He worked with the HCC Foundation to set up the fund to support students' emergency financial needs, such as vehicle repairs.Charles &quot;Bud&quot; Ramsay, a 1964 graduate of HCC and the president of the college's Alumni and Friends Scholarship Association, gave Golladay a $3,000 contribution for the student assistance fund in June.Ramsay and his late wife, Ann, have been longtime supporters of the college. Mrs. Ramsay, who died in 2012 following a car accident, had served as chair of the Board of Trustees and head of the HCC Foundation and the Alumni Association. She received HCC's Distinguished Alumni Award posthumously at the May 26 commencement.Ramsay, a resident of Churchville, said the contribution was a way to thank Golladay for supporting HCC alumni.&quot;I found him to be a very quiet but goal-focused individual who had a vision for the college that involved the Alumni Association,&quot; Ramsay said. &quot;He helped us grow through his leadership and programs.&quot;

Retired president Golladay reflects on accomplishments at Harford Community College

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