Presidential Fete
HCC to celebrate Prsident Royal May 3
Nearly 200 HCC students, faculty and staff members, alumni, trustees, educators, elected officials, and friends are expected to attend a retirement celebration in honor of Holyoke Community College President Christina Royal on Wednesday, May 3.
The celebration will be held on the second floor of the HCC Campus Center from 3-5 p.m. Among those confirmed to attend are state Sen. John Velis, state Rep. Pat Duffy, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, and Noe Ortega, commissioner of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
The event will feature food from HCC dining services and include a green carpet promenade for paparrazi moments with President Royal, whiteboards where guests can write messages of thanks and inspiration, and a giant Lite-Brite - eight feet wide and four feet deep - that is meant to symbolize President Royal's future-focused leadership.
A speaking program is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. with remarks from Velis, Duffy, and Garcia, along with several HCC students, staff members and alumni, culminating with remarks from President Royal.
"It is difficult to pack into just two hours how much President Royal has meant to our community and this region," said Amanda Sbriscia, HCC vice president of Institutional Advancement and the official emcee for the event. "Her leadership as HCC's fourth president has inspired us and has lifted the college to new heights. This will be a celebration of Dr. Royal as well as all we have accomplished together with her visionary leadership."
Royal began her tenure as president of HCC in January 2017 and immediately set the college on a course to create its first Strategic Plan. In August, she announced that she would retire after the 2022-2023 academic year. Her last day at the college will be Friday, July 14. Her last three weeks will overlap with the first three of HCC's next president, George Timmons, who was named her successor last week by the HCC Board of Trustees.
For more information, to RSVP to attend the event, to send President Royal a message or donate in her honor to the President's Student Emergency Fund, please go to hcc.edu/celebration.
PHOTO: President Christina Royal, in her office, holds a Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go, a gift to her from a colleague after she was hired at HCC.
