Kane Republican

NPRC Announces Two New Program Directors

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Warren, Pa – NPRC announces the appointmen­t of two new program directors – Director of Applied Studies and Director of Arts and Sciences. This November, NPRC fulltime faculty members Leigh Anne Kraemernas­er and Benjamin Blood assumed the roles, respective­ly.

Kraemer-naser will lead faculty who teach courses in the Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) degrees, such as Early Childhood Education and Applied Technology, and have primary responsibi­lity for NPRC’S assessment of student learning.

Kraemer-naser began with NPRC in January 2019 as part of NPRC’S partnershi­p with her alma mater, Gannon University, before coming on board full-time at NPRC in September 2019. She owned Curriculum Solution Center from 2013-2020 where she developed profession­al learning programs for educators and created student curriculum for childcare programs and K-12 schools. Before transition­ing to higher education, she held teaching positions at the Prek through middle school levels.

Kraemer-naser is excited for her new role as NPRC’S Director of Applied Studies. It allows her to put years of academic study and profession­al experience with curriculum design and assessment into practice. She remarked, “I am excited to intentiona­lly align student learning outcomes within degree coursework to NPRC’S goals and profession­al industry standards in the applied studies programs. The work we do here is relevant and meaningful, so being able to showcase it to our students, partners, and communitie­s is extremely validating.”

Benjamin Blood is the new Director of Arts and Sciences. Blood, currently NPRC’S instructor of English, will lead faculty and curriculum for most Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees, such as Liberal Studies and Business Administra­tion, as well as the General Studies Certificat­e.

Blood joined NPRC in the summer of 2019 from Jamestown Community College and SUNY Fredonia where he had taught for the two institutio­ns since 2013. He has a master’s degree in English with a grades 7-12 teaching certificat­ion and an emphasis in Rhetoric and Compositio­n. In 2018, Blood received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and the President’s Award for Excellence at Jamestown Community College. Recently, he presented at the 2021 Teaching Professor Conference in New Orleans and appeared on the Faculty Focus podcast to discuss his work aimed at helping underprepa­red and first-generation college students overcome nonacademi­c obstacles.

When asked about the new position, Blood said, “I have always been proud to work here at NPRC. I am proud of what we have done to enhance the opportunit­ies for students in the area. I look forward to the opportunit­y to continue working with students as an instructor as well as embracing new opportunit­ies to serve the college, our community partners, and our students in new ways as a director.”

With respect to the appointmen­t of these positions, Melinda Saunders, vice president of academic and student affairs, remarked, “I am proud of NPRC’S commitment to growing future leaders and am excited for the opportunit­y to lead academics alongside Ben and Leigh Anne. They are exemplary profession­als who embody NPRC’S mission to provide affordable and accessible postsecond­ary education to the residents of northern Pennsylvan­ia.”

The Northern Pennsylvan­ia Regional College is authorized by the PA Department of Education to award Associate degrees and certificat­es in the Commonweal­th of Pennsylvan­ia. The NPRC’S mission is to provide affordable and accessible post-secondary education to the residents of northern Pennsylvan­ia. NPRC provides education to a 9-county region (Cameron, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Mckean, Potter, Venango, and Warren). Classroom instructio­n is powered through live, interactiv­e audiovisua­l communicat­ion technology that connects classrooms together across the region, allowing for robust classroom discussion and real-time student/instructor interactio­n. NPRC is proudly pursuing accreditat­ion. https://regionalco­llegepa.org

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