A fare thee well party was held in January for Elizabeth “Lissa” Archer, who after more than two decades decided it was time to join the ranks of the retired. During her time here, Lissa worked in several departments mostly recently the mail room.

A college in the Middle East is now benefiting from the important work which Northern Essex has done with Appreciative Inquiry. Lane Glenn, vice president of academic affairs and president-elect, traveled to Doha, Qatar in January to share NECC’s success in using appreciative inquiry as a planning tool with the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar. Interested in building a strengths-based campus, the college invited Glenn to visit and train faculty and staff. “The college hopes to expand their use of Appreciative Inquiry, Strengths-Finder, and other “appreciative” tools the way NECC has been able to do,” says Glenn. “Then, they hope to share their work with other colleges in the Middle East.” The capital of Qatar, Doha is located on the Persian Gulf.

NECC alumnus and current Salem State University student Ozan Haksever won the best director award at the Kennedy Center American College Region I Theater Festival in January and, as a result, will represent Region 1 at the National Festival in Washington DC in April. Haksever competed against student directors from colleges and universities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and East¬ern New York. He will receive his bachelor of fine arts degree from Salem State this May. He was recently appointed as the artistic director of the Ghostlight Theater in New Hampshire where he was involved for many years and directed several plays. He will direct Waiting for Godot this summer there.

NECC Alumna Alexandra Pecci recently wrote a tourism book on the city of Salem titled Salem: A Guide to America’s Bewitching City. It will be released April 1.Here is a link to it on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Salem-Americas-Bewitching-Tourist