Westchester Community College President Breaks
Guinness World Record As
Longest Serving College President
By Paul Helgesen
VALHALLA, NY, October 21 --
If you want to break the world record of having the longest
continuous service as
President of a College, it helps to be elected while you are young.
The word 'young' appears often in the resume of Joseph Hankin. In 1967, he
was the youngest person ever to be elected President of a College when he was
given that post at Harford Community College.
It should serve as no surprise that Dr. Hankin was only 31 when he took
over the reins as President of
Westchester Community College.
Now, 31 years later, while still a few years removed from retirement, he already
has eclipsed the previous record and now stands as the College President
with the Longest Tenure - EVER.
Dr. Hankin's accomplishments are numerous. Among the most recent, and trendsetting,
is his selection as President for the Month at the prestigious Teachers College
faculty at Columbia
University, where Dr. Hankin is a Professor.
There, he pioneered the use of Virtual Update, an information clearinghouse
for strategies, tools and user interaction that enhance traditional classroom
teaching methods.
For a link to Dr. Hankin's use of Virtual Update at Columbia University
Teachers College, click here.
Brief Resume of Joseph N. Hankin
Joseph N. Hankin was born and educated in New York. After attending New York City
public elementary and secondary schools, he enrolled at the City College of New York
where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences, and at Columbia
University's Graduate Faculties and Teachers College, where, respectively, he
earned Master of Arts and Doctor of Education degrees in History and in the
Administration of Higher Education. Formal writings in these programs included a
Master's thesis entitled, "The Progressive Party of 1924 in New York," and a
doctoral dissertation entitled, "Selected Urban Problems and the Public Community
College." He also holds honorary doctorates, Honoris Causa, from Mercy College,
the College of New Rochelle, Manhattan College and Lehman College-City University
of New York.
Dr. Hankin taught at the collegiate level at the City University of New York from
1962 to 1965, and as an occasional lecturer, and then an Adjunct Associate and Full
Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1965 to the present.
Dr. Hankin began in full-time administration commencing in 1965. Following a one
and one-half year period as Director and then Dean of Continuing Education and the
summer sessions at Harford Junior College in Bel Air, Maryland, the Board of Trustees
requested that, at age 26, Dr. Hankin assume the position of President. He served in
that capacity for four and one-half years and then assumed the presidency of
Westchester Community College in 1971, which he serves to this day.
Among the related professional activities in which Dr. Hankin has engaged are:
speaker and panelist for numerous forums, member, chairman, or consultant for
accreditation teams in Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
and Puerto Rico, and consultant to a number of educational institutions in
Maryland, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and New York. He has participated actively in several civic and
professional organizations, including the Board of Directors of the American
Association of Community and Junior Colleges (Vice Chairman), the Junior College
Council of the Middle Atlantic States (Treasurer, Vice-President, and President),
Eastern Educational Consortium (President), Young Presidents' Organization, and
others. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the First Choice Funds, Inc.,
the ING Funds Trust, Inc., and is certified as a Large Complex Case Program
arbitrator by the American Arbitration Association.
Dr. Hankin has been awarded several honors over the years including a New York
State Regents Scholarship, a Kellogg Fellowship in Community College
Administration, honorary election to Chi Sigma Mu and to Phi Delta Kappa, the
Distinguished Service Award by the Bel Air (Maryland) Jaycees, the Brotherhood
Award by the Westchester Region of the National Council of Christians and Jews,
Distinguished Service Awards by both the New York State Association of Two Year
Colleges and by the SUNY Faculty Council of Community Colleges, an
Honorary D. Litt. by Mercy College, an Honorary D.H.L. by the College of New
Rochelle, an Honorary D. Ped. by Manhattan College, and listings in directories
such as Who's Who in the East, the Dictionary of International Biography, Who's
Who in America, and others. In 1986, he was selected by his peers as one of
The Hundred Most Effective College Presidents in the United States, and in 1988
as one of the fifty best community college presidents in the country. He served
as President of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools during 1999.
At the end of the last Millennium, Dr. Hankin was recognized by Westchester
Gannett News as one of the most influential people of the century in Westchester
and Putnam counties.
His six dozen publications have included consultant's reports, numerous college
documents printed and circulated to the public, contributions to a bibliographical
work on community colleges, monographs and chapters on collective bargaining,
continuing education, and the importance of the first year in college, and
articles in the Junior College Journal, other magazines, and several local
newspapers on a variety of educational topics.
Dr. Hankin and his wife, the Superintendent of Schools in Syosset, New York,
have three children and five grandchildren.
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