Administration

Office of Human Resources appoints child care director

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Office of Human Resources has appointed Holley Benjamin as the director of early child care programs and services, beginning Jan. 5. Holley comes to the University with seven years of experience in early childhood development, administration and program coordination as well as extensive fundraising and budget management skills. She has a strong knowledge of child care regulations, University policies and research in the field of early childhood education.

The appointment of a child care director was a recommendation within one of the five key findings and recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on Child Care at Penn State. The full report can be found at http://www.psu.edu/ur/2014/PTFoCCaPS_012113b.pdf online. Additional progress to date includes the formation of a child care advisory committee (members listed below) and the revision of AD-39 (Sections 9 and 15 relating to staff-to-child ratios).

Before coming to Penn State, Benjamin was the director of early education and child care at Syracuse University. There she administered and coordinated programming for 60 children, supervised and mentored 15 full-time teachers, assured that the center met the state regulation and health and safety practices, and served on the campus child care advisory committee.

“As former chair of the child care task force, I am thrilled to see the progress we have made as a University in the past year. Ms. Benjamin will work with the newly established child care advisory committee and will certainly carry the work of the task force forward. Her leadership and innovative ideas will help to continue and strengthen connections between the academic colleges and the on-campus child care centers. Ms. Benjamin’s experience teaching early childhood education classes at Syracuse University and her research on infant development will also inform the education missions of Penn State’s child care programs,” said Jackie Edmondson, associate vice president and associate dean for undergraduate education, who led the search committee.

In her new position at Penn State, Benjamin will assume the role of assessing and implementing recommendations put forth in the task force final report. She will begin by meeting with child care center directors around the commonwealth, which will aide her in recommending action items for consistency in policies and procedures among the centers. These include, but are not limited to, identifying strategies for decreasing teacher turnover, increasing revenues and managing costs, and encouraging efficiencies between centers through collaboration with regard to purchasing, data collection and the centers’ waiting list.

Susan Basso, vice president for Human Resources, said “I am very excited to have Holley as our new child care director. High quality child care at the University is an extremely important benefit for the faculty, staff and students and I fully support the recommendations within the child care task force report. Given her previous experiences, I am confident Holley is the right person to provide child care leadership, and I look forward to having her as part of the Human Resources team.”

Child care at Penn State has a rich history dating to 1929 with the establishment of the Child Development Laboratory (CDL). In 1979, the CDL became a full-day, full-year program. The CDL closed in July 2011 and reopened at a new location as the Child Care Center at Hort Woods. In February 2001, the Bennett Family Child Care Center (BFC), made possible by a donation from Edna Bennett Pierce, Class of 1953, opened its doors. Both centers are accredited by National Association for the Education of Young Children, hold Keystone 4-star status and are licensed by the state of Pennsylvania. More information about both centers may be found at http://childcare.psu.edu. The University also has a University-operated child care center at Penn State Behrend, as well as child care centers operating on campuses in Harrisburg, Altoona, Fayette and the Hershey Medical Center. 

The child care advisory committee members are: 

-- Susan Basso (chairwoman), vice president for Human Resources

-- Abigail Diehl, instructor, assistant dean College of Health & Human Development

-- Andrea Dowhower, assistant vice president, Student Affairs

-- Andrea Hoerner, administrative support assistant, Penn State Harrisburg  

-- Cassandra Kitko, manager, employee benefits

-- Dan Willis, professor of architecture

-- Eunice Moore, director, Behrend Child Care Center

-- Heather Kimble, director, Bennett Family Child Care Center

-- Jackie Edmondson, associate vice president and associate dean, Undergraduate Education

-- Jenn Hooven, preschool teacher, Hort Woods

-- Matt Bugaj, Pre-K Counts teacher, Bennett Family Child Care Center

-- Misty Woods, program specialist, Hort Woods

-- Paolo Infante, student lecturer in intensive English

-- Sandy Weaver, youth programs compliance specialist

-- Stephanie Serriere, associate professor, curriculum and instruction and women's studies

 

Last Updated December 4, 2014