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From left to right - President Flynn, P. Michael Ehlerman, Carolyn T. Holleran, Dr. John Gruber, Board Chair James Boscov. |
Four former trustees of Alvernia College were honored with emeritus status on Sunday, December 17, during Winter Commencement. P. Michael Ehlerman, Frank A. Franco, Dr. John W. Gruber, and Carolyn Holleran provided distinguished leadership and service as board officers and trustees at large.
P. Michael Ehlerman, chairman of Yuasa Battery, Inc., served on the Alvernia College Board of Trustees for nine years, from 1993 to 2002, serving as board chair twice during that time. Besides sharing his business expertise and leadership during a time of rapid growth for Alvernia, his faith in the College’s future is also evident in the support he and his wife Judy have extended to numerous projects, including the campaign for the Student Center in the 1990s, and an endowed scholarship -- the P. Michael and Judy Ehlerman Scholarship Fund -- for students in need, in 2000.
Besides Alvernia, Ehlerman’s commitments to not-for-profit organizations have been numerous. Among his most significant recent work has been as a pioneer in establishing the Berks Economic Partnership, which he served as chair of the board. But many of his greatest contributions to the economic development and improvement of the quality of life in this community are made quietly and without fanfare.
The local newspaper captured the essence of Mr. Ehlerman when they featured his involvement as a mentor for the Y.E.S. program (Youth Excelling Successfully) for students in the Reading School District. When asked how he found time to tutor a grade school child, he said, “If I don’t have one hour to give to a child in Reading once a week, I have a problem.”
Following years of service to Alvernia College, Dr. Frank A. Franco, a respected local physician and business owner, was designated the College’s first Life Trustee in 1996. To acknowledge Dr. Franco today is a celebration of his legacy of leadership and devotion to higher education. “If this country is going to remain competitive,” Dr. Franco once said, “education has to be the key.”
Indeed, Dr. Franco has supported numerous colleges and universities in his lifetime. But he has a special passion for Catholic education and for Alvernia. He served as a trustee from 1989 to 1996, the last four years as vice chair of the board. In 1990, he was the recipient of the College’s highest honor, the Franciscan Award. Dr. Franco chaired the College’s Vision for the Future Campaign because he believed in investing in improved facilities for our students. He also hoped that his leadership gift for a new library would serve to motivate others to support the College. Both then and now, his is a vision of the library of the future, enriched with technology, a genuine learning commons and hub of research, inquiry, and reflection. The Frank A. Franco Library and Learning Center is testimony to Frank Franco’s commitment to the potential of Alvernia and its students. Today’s and tomorrow’s students and faculty are the beneficiaries of his vision, service, and philanthropy.
Dr. John W. Gruber, served on the College Board of Trustees for ten years, from 1991 to 2001, serving as chair for his last two years on the board. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine, Dr. Gruber has had a distinguished career in cardiology. He served as chairman of the Section of Cardiology at The Reading Hospital and Medical Center from 1990-1997. Because Alvernia College prepares many students for careers in medicine, nursing and the allied health fields, Alvernia was fortunate to have the benefit of Dr. Gruber’s medical expertise for more than a decade.
Among Dr. Gruber’s distinguishing characteristics is the service and loyalty he has shown to institutions with which he has had a lifelong connection. His mother, Ellen Frei Gruber, taught in the Wyomissing School District for twenty-seven years, was a member of the Alvernia College faculty from 1968 to 1975, a lecturer in the Education and Fine Arts Departments, and supervised student teachers throughout Berks County Schools. Since its inception almost twenty-five years ago, in 1983, the Ellen Frei Gruber Alumni Award has honored notable Alvernia alumni who demonstrate exceptional service to their alma mater, the community, and their fellow alumni. Through this award, Alvernia has been able to recognize impressive men and women who demonstrate the value of their education and the impact of Franciscan values in their professional and personal lives.
The Board of Trustees and the entire academic community benefited from Jack Gruber’s visionary leadership during a period of transformative growth, especially in graduate and adult education.
Carolyn Holleran, served as a trustee from 1992 to 2000, serving two terms each as Vice Chair and then Chair of the Board of Trustees. Mrs. Holleran has devoted her life in service of her community and, like Dr. Gruber, she credits her mother for teaching her to contribute to both church and community. A proud graduate of Connecticut College, where she has also served as a trustee, she is the author of numerous publications for educators and a community leader. Mrs. Holleran has received countless awards, both individually and with her husband, Jerry, a current Alvernia trustee.
Mrs. Holleran has been a beacon in the Greater Reading community — for the arts, higher education, social service agencies, and most particularly, for Alvernia College. She and her husband Jerry, a current trustee, were co-recipients in 1995 of the College’s highest honor, the Franciscan Award. Over the years, she and Jerry established a $150,000 Annual Fund Scholarship Challenge Grant, matching every new gift to Alvernia dollar for dollar; co-chaired Alvernia College’s 1996-1997 “Faith in the Future” campaign to build a new student center; provided leadership gifts for the Center in 1998 and 2000; became major supporters in the College’s St. Clare Legacy Society for Planned Giving; and also provided a major gift to the College’s Endowment in 2004. Today, they continue to offer the T. Jerome and Carolyn Holleran scholarship for current Alvernia students.
Carolyn Holleran exemplifies the high ideals to which we call our students and our graduates. Alvernia is the institution it is today because of the vision, the conviction, and the leadership of Carolyn Holleran.
For more information about Alvernia College, call (888) ALVERNIA.
Updated:
January 10, 2007
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