New leadership driving Alvernia University's Schuylkill Center

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Local professionals Cynthia Mensch (left) and Kimberly Whalen (right) have been appointed director and assistant director of Alvernia University’s Schuylkill Center in Pottsville, Pa.

READING, PA (01/30/2014)(readMedia)-- (Pottsville, PA) - Local professionals Cynthia Mensch and Kimberly Whalen have been appointed director and assistant director of Alvernia University's Schuylkill Center in Pottsville, Pa.

Schuylkill County native Cynthia Mensch has been promoted to Director of Alvernia University's Schuylkill Center, where she has served as Assistant Director since 2011. Mensch brings 15 years of classroom teaching experience to the position, as well as administrative experience as both an acting-principal and development director in the education sector.

At Alvernia, Mensch has been instrumental in reinstituting the popular Principal's Certification program and creating a Superintendent Letter of Eligibility program for students at the Schuylkill Center. As Director of the Schuylkill Center, she hopes to focus on bachelor degree programs for adults. Two new Schuylkill Center programs being implemented under her direction include Healthcare Management and RN-BSN Completion.

An active member of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, Mensch also serves on the executive board of the Schuylkill Choral Society and has worked with the American Business Association and local PTA groups. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Kutztown University and a Master of Education degree from Penn State University.

Filling the role of Assistant Director at Alvernia's Schuylkill Center is another Schuylkill County native, Kimberly Whalen, who will focus on the Master in Business Administration program and the Pre-K - 4 undergraduate education cohort.

Whalen gained more than 10 years of experience in post-secondary education from her position as Registrar/Dean of Students at the former Schuylkill Institute of Business and Technology. After being chosen to complete the exclusive Pennsylvania Management Associate Program with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2008, she took a position with the PA Civil Service Commission as a human resource analyst, and most recently worked as a caseworker for the PA Department of Public Welfare.

A graduate of St. Joseph's and Alvernia Universities, Whalen holds a Bachelor of Science in business and a Master in Business Administration degree. She has served on the YWCA Board of Directors, volunteered for the Make A Wish Foundation, and has been an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.

ALVERNIA is a thriving university that empowers students through real-world learning to discover their passion for life while providing the education to turn what they love into lifetimes of career success and personal fulfillment. Our students follow their hearts into productive careers and vibrant lives where they help make the world a better place. Alvernia's main campus is located in Reading, with satellite centers in Philadelphia and Schuylkill County. The university offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and minors and a range of graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels through its School of Graduate and Adult Education.