by Melody Gustafson SALEM -- Dr. Melissa Denardo has taken over the position of assistant dean of the campus, replacing Dr. Kristen Figg, and intends, among several goals, to improve the quality of education and reduce the volume of dropouts.
Denardo earned a master's degree in business education from Indiana University in Pennsylvania (IUP) and her Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. Her classroom experience ranges from high and proprietary schools to community college and university levels.
With her background in education and her experience with The Faculty Academy at Aiken Technical College in South Carolina, an instructor development seminar project, she will work with those at the KSU-Salem campus to help teachers sharpen their skills for a more conducive learning experience. At IUP, she supervised student teachers and was involved with business education training.
"I believe that students need to be engaged to be successful in college, and I want to keep our students," she said, and believes in the efficacy of the early alert program in Salem. When a faculty member identifies problematic aspects of any student, including spotty attendance or academic danger, the faculty will recommend the student visit the Academic Center and also notify the office of enrollment management, which will attempt intervention.
"Students struggle through beginning courses," called gate-keeper courses, "especially developmental math, across the nation," she said. An average 50 percent retention rate indicates the need for attention in this area, she explained. Rather than allow troubled students to fail or quit, she wants to aggressively nip the withering bud of academic warning.
Because she knows that a college develops the workforce in a community, she plans to to work with "local community business and industry to help move Columbiana County forward." She intends to open up relationships with small business owners, industrial heads and the Chamber of Commerce to develop a workforce that will possess the skills our county needs.
Denardo also wants to ensure that this college takes action based on "data-driven decisions." She believes that this is the best way to enable success for all students. "By analyzing enrollment trends and digging deeper into the data, we can determine where our students are failing," she said.
She described her role actively designing programs of study at Colorado Mountain College (CMC) while serving as associate professor and program director of computer information technology for five years. At Community College of Allegheny County, she led the initiative to establish a Survivability and Information Assurance (SIA) program as the Executive Leader of a $1.9 million U.S. Congressional appropriation.
Also during her time at CMC, her efforts helped to repeal "the Tabor Amendment, the Colorado Taxpayers' Bill of Rights," and her efforts led to a new Vail-Eagle Valley Campus from the funding generated.
Before coming to KSU-Salem, Denardo had been the vice-president of academic affairs at Aiken Technical College for four years and relocated so that she could live closer to family members, who live in Western Pennsylvania. She lives with her husband, Rodney, and has two adult sons who work as an archeologist and engineer.
