Haverford Welcomes New Staff

Lydia Dagenais '04 is an Admission Counselor with the Office of Admission. Her specific duties are to coordinate the student volunteers who host and give tours to prospective students. This year, Haverford will also have online chats for prospective students, so she will be coordinating those as well. In addition, she also performs the standard duties of an Admission Officer: traveling around to high schools and colleges to promote Haverford, conducting interviews of prospective students, and reading applications.

Prior to coming to Haverford, Lydia attended high school in Kansas City, Mo. She graduated from Haverford College this past May, and was immediately snapped up by the Office of Admission. While a student at Haverford, she worked as a coordinator for the Multicultural Scholars Program, and actually wrote her thesis on the multiracial experience and identity issues. She is anxious to bring her specialties to bear in her new career. Lydia is glad to have the opportunity to remain a part of the Haverford community (so glad, in fact, that she did not apply for any other jobs coming out of college). She also says that her mother is thrilled by the fact that her daughter already has her own health insurance.

Joseph T. Erckert has been named Director of Development. Erckert, who began work on Sept. 8, brings to the College many years of experience in higher education and fundraising. He received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Lafayette College and his master's in higher education administration from Teachers College at Columbia University. He worked for 10 years at his alma mater Lafayette, where he served as Associate Director of Alumni Affairs, Associate Director and, eventually, Director of the College Fund, and Associate Director of Major Gifts. His most recent position was as Director of Leadership Gifts at Villanova University, where he was responsible for the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of campaign prospects likely to make gifts of $1 million or more to the university's capital campaign.

He has also worked as an executive search consultant at Raines Associates in New York, a career planning officer at Columbia University Law School, and a housing coordinator at Seton Hall University and Florida International University.“We are very fortunate to add Joe to an already strong Institutional Advancement team,” says Jill Sherman, Vice President for Institutional Advancement.“His broad background in alumni relations and fundraising combined with his own educational and professional origins in a liberal arts setting and his commitment to higher education make him the ideal choice for Director of Development at Haverford.” Erckert and his wife, Irene, reside in Newtown, Pa., with their two-year-old son John.

Brian Engard is the Administrative Assistant to the Registrar's Office. He processes transcripts and transcript requests, verifies student enrollment, and helps out with non-academic registration. Prior to coming to Haverford, Brian was working for AMEC BioPharmaceuticals, Inc., doing contract validation for pharmaceutical equipment.

Brian currently lives in Havertown, right on the border of Upper Darby, only about 15 from the college. He says that he is grateful to be working at Haverford because his last job involved extensive, tiring travel commitments, and he is looking forward to the stability of working so close to home and the absence of competition represented by Haverford's work environment. He is also looking forward to spending his days on the beautiful campus.

Nhon Le comes to the Haverford community after eight years in the private sector. He has been working in accounting and finance, and sought out his position at Haverford because of his desire to do more for people. He works in the Business Office as a Staff Accountant, specializing in the endowment.

Nhon currently commutes to Haverford from Lawrenceville, N.J. He says that the opportunity to serve in an educational environment appeals to him as one of the best ways to enhance the quality of life for others.

Carrie Oelberger is the new Program Coordinator for the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship. She is responsible for the administration of the Center, including: budget oversight, publicity, and networking. She is also in charge of some of the programming, including the Intercultural Dialogue Programming Fund, a new Service Leadership Program which she herself initiated, and the Center Initiated Programming. She is currently working from room S218 in the Koshland Integrated Sciences Center, although the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship will move to Stokes after the New Year.

Carrie graduated from Haverford in 1999. In 1997, while taking a semester off, Carrie taught secondary school in the rural Kiteto District of Tanzania, and later co-founded the Jifunze Project, an international non-profit organization to provide rural communities with sustainable, empowering, quality education. Carrie moved back to the United States in April, and now commutes to Haverford by bike from her row house in Germantown. She enjoys being back at Haverford and supporting individuals on campus as they reflect on issues of peace, justice, and global understanding. She looks forward to bringing her experience with international education as well as her commitment to social change to Haverford.