Contact information: 413/775-1420
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Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: December 27, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GCC "People on the Move"

Kathy Sisneros is the new administrator for evening and weekend services at Greenfield Community College. She comes to GCC from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she was director for diversity programs and initiatives with university housing. She considers her primary focus at GCC to be supporting evening and weekend students with all the services they need to succeed, such as access to tutors and advisors. "We don't want them to feel marginalized (in comparison to daytime students),” she says. Sisneros has a bachelor's degree in communications from Eastern New Mexico University, and a master's degree in counseling earned at Northern Arizona University.

Vera Vlasenko, Administrative Assistant in the Office of Admission, has earned a master's degree in educational and organizational psychology from Union Institute at the University of Vermont. Vlasenko, who has taught Conversational Russian for the Department of Community Education, first stepped foot on the GCC campus the morning after her arrival in the United States. "We came here from New York on Dec. 5, 1991 and on Dec. 6, I was on this campus because my brother-in-law brought me here to show me around,” says Vlasenko. "I loved it from the second I came here.” She went on to earn two degrees from GCC and her bachelor's degree from Norwich (Vt.) University, and has been a staff member for eight years. Vlasenko hopes to channel more of her energies into international student advising. "As an immigrant,” she says, "I've learned so much about this country and being here and going through all the steps to accomplish my goals. I want to share those experiences in order to show that anyone can do that if they put their heart and their head to it, especially on this campus.”