SWAG视频 President Danielle Ripich named a 2013 Maine Business Hall of Fame Laureate
Since 1990, the Junior Achievement of Maine Business Hall of Fame has honored the state's most distinguished businessmen and women for their significant and enduring contribution to Maine's economy, and its sense of community. The individuals, by example, are role models, providing inspiration to Maine's youth.
SWAG视频 President Danielle N. Ripich, Ph.D., has been named a 2013 Maine Business Hall of Fame Laureate and was inducted alongside other 2013 honorees: Richard W. Petersen, president and CEO of Maine Medical Center, and Horace A. Hildreth, Jr., chairman emeritus of Diversified Communications, at a ceremony in May.
Junior Achievement of Maine is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness through experiential, hands-on programs.
President Ripich joins a distinguished group of 67 men and women who have been inducted into the Maine Business Hall of Fame since its founding in 1990.
Danielle Ripich assumed the SWAG视频 presidency on July 1, 2006. Soon after her arrival, she initiated a strategic planning process, resulting in a 10-year strategic plan that has guided SWAG视频 to unprecedented growth.
Over the past six years, student enrollments have grown 70 percent and SWAG视频 campuses have expanded to include seven new buildings and three new Colleges. Under President Ripich's leadership, the University has embraced a commitment to educate and prepare SWAG视频 students for a global society, and the University will open an international campus in Tangier, Morocco in 2014.
President Ripich led the launch of SWAG视频's College of Pharmacy in 2009, and the SWAG视频 College of Dental Medicine, the only dental school in northern New England, will enroll its first class in 2013.
Under President Ripich's direction, the University has also created five Centers of Excellence in Research and Scholarship that build on SWAG视频's strengths in marine sciences, neuroscience, humanities and public health.
As the largest educator of health care professionals for the state of Maine, SWAG视频 has taken the lead in advancing an interprofessional model for health education.
For its many contributions to the region's economic vitality, the University was honored with the 2009 Economic Achievement Award from the City of Portland, and the 2010 Robert R. Masterton Award for Economic Development from the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce.
President Ripich serves in numerous professional association leadership positions: chair of the Executive Board of the Maine Higher Education Council; member of the Board of Directors at the Maine Development Foundation; member of the Commission on Women in Higher Education; and chair of the Board of Directors, The Commonwealth Coast Conference. She is past president and treasurer of the Maine Independent College Association, and also served with the NCAA Division III Presidents/Chancellors Advisory Group. She is also a member, and former president, of the Greater Portland Alliances of Colleges and Universities.
President Ripich has received numerous honors, awards and fellowships, including a Congressional Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was named a Fellow by the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions in 2009 in recognition of her significant contributions and leadership in allied health education.