Commencement Ceremonies at NCCC

Northwestern CT Community College in Winsted is pleased to announce that the keynote speaker at its 36th commencement exercises will be Dr. Regina R. Barreca, Professor of English Literature and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut. Commencement is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 31.

Dr. Barreca is the author of several best selling books including They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted (1991), Perfect Husbands (and Other Fairy Tales) (1993), and Sweet Revenge: The Wicked Delights of Getting Even (1995). Barreca also edited the Penguin Book of Women's Humor (1996), which received rave notices. Her books have been translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech and Korean. She is also the editor of seven scholarly works, including The Erotics of Instruction and Untamed and Unabashed: Essays on Women and Humor in British Literature.

Ms. Barreca's work, which has been widely featured in the national press, has been praised for "spanning the divide between Ivory Tower scholarship and popular culture." Gina writes a weekly column for the Hartford Courant and has published articles in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and dozens of magazines. She has also appeared on several radio and television programs, including Oprah and The Today Show.

The recipient of NCCC’s 2002 Board of Trustees Merit Award is Ms. Margaret A. Johnson, Winsted Town Manager. This award, which will be presented at the commencement ceremony, is given to an individual in recognition of extraordinary service that has been rendered to the community college.

Since her arrival in Winsted, Margaret A. Johnson has initiated multiple collaborations between the town and NCCC with the goal of improving conditions for our students and our townspeople. She has worked collaboratively with the college on programs that have resulted in capital improvements, artistic and educational expansion, job development, and state and federal funding for joint projects. This ongoing interaction has resulted in a win-win situation for both communities. This town/ gown relationship may be of greater significance to NCCC than to other configurations of higher education, simply because the school’s mission is rooted in its name: community college.

Ms. Johnson has been the Town Manager of Winsted since 1997. Before coming to Winsted, she was Director of Planning for the City of Hartford, where she administered, among other areas, the Planning Commission, the Design Review Board, the Historic Properties Commission and the City's Capital Improvement Program. She is quite familiar with the halls of academe, having once taught urban studies at the University of Connecticut. She has also worked as a Missionary in Guatemala, helping to improve the living conditions of impoverished Guatemalans. Margaret A. Johnson received a B.A. from Sacred Heart University, and a M.S.W. from the University of Connecticut. She has also studied at CIDOC in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

NCCC is pleased to recognize the energy, commitment and dedication of a public servant who is doing much to help the school fulfill its mission of service to the people of the northwest corner of Connecticut.