Ron DiNicola, longtime advocate of Erie County Community College, to step down from board of trustees

Ron DiNicola, who played a leading role in the seven-year effort to establish a community college in Erie County, and who serves as chairman of its board of trustees, will step down from the board once his term expires in August.

DiNicola, 66, who's led the board since August 2020, said his decision comes from his confidence in the community college's future, a sense that it's now "on solid ground, well-funded and poised for growth."

"It's a good time in the sense that I think the college has now planted itself in the community," DiNicola told the Erie Times-News.

"It's poised to do all the things it needs to do to be successful. And so I think, for me at least, as far as an expenditure of my time over an extended period, it's probably a good time for me to be able to do some of the other things that I'd like to do in the community."

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DiNicola said the passage of the state budget earlier this month, which designated $2.9 million for the community college in the upcoming fiscal year, and the college's newly announced west side campus at the former Villa Maria Academy building, were "big markers" for him, and gave him confidence the community college was secure and being led by a skilled leadership team.

He praised his board colleagues for their efforts and deep wells of experience, and said the selection of Erie County Community College President Christopher Gray "puts the college in skilled and energetic hands, backed by a highly credentialed staff."

Gray, in turn, said DiNicola will be "deeply missed."

"Ron fought like hell for this college," Gray told the Times-News. "His experience, both with his legal experience and in his relationships with local elected officials, was so critical."

Gray also praised DiNicola's tenacity in making the economic and moral case for the community college, and for his commitment to Erie County.

"Here's guy who went off to the Marine Corps, then Harvard, then Georgetown. He becomes an attorney that represents major clients and had an office in Los Angeles. But he decided he needed to be back here in his hometown so he could contribute to Erie County," Gray said of DiNicola. "He's just an all around great guy."

DiNicola said recommendations for his replacement will be discussed by the board of trustees on Aug. 11 and that a candidate is expected to be nominated by the end of the month.

He said he plans to focus more on the Erie Police Athletic League, where he's also a board member.

"I'll probably give more of my time to that organization and others," he said.

Empower Erie co-founder

Since 2016, DiNicola has sought to make a community college in Erie County a reality.

As co-founder of Empower Erie, a nonprofit organization established to do the research and consensus-building required to open a community college, DiNicola helped assemble and lead a diverse bipartisan coalition to advocate for the vision.

"There weren't many times during the lead-in to getting approval that we actually thought we were going to win — because Harrisburg was against us," said DiNicola, pointing especially to the opposition from Republican state Sen. Joe Scarnati, who was then serving as Senate president pro tempore.

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DiNicola said he partnered with public, private, community and faith-based leaders in Erie County to push the "fairness argument," convincing leaders in Harrisburg about the vital economic role of Erie County in the state, and how a community college could generate more opportunities for workforce development and growth.

"I think, candidly, we outmaneuvered him," said DiNicola of Scarnati. "It became a situation where his position became disliked by his own coalition. I was certain that if we could break his hold on the non-ideological members of the (Board of Education) who still believed in education and still recognized what we were trying to achieve, that we could win."

Bishop Dwane Brock of the Victory Christian Center in Erie worked closely with DiNicola in the effort.

"We traveled together back and forth, from Erie to Harrisburg, lobbying the powers-that-be and state legislators to bring the community college here," Brock told the Times-News. "He's a tremendous resource of wisdom and a great intellect — but even beyond that, he has a heart that's in the right place."

State approval and beyond

The long-sought approval of the college by the Pennsylvania Board of Education came on June 11, 2020, making it the first new community college in Pennsylvania in 27 years, and the newest in the nation.

The college's first-ever semester began in September.

During DiNicola's tenure as board chairman, the community college secured more than $20 million in state funding, acquired four campus locations and established bylaws, policies and an institutional strategy.

In June, Gray announced the college was approved for a site visit and is on the path to accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Earning accreditation will enable students to become eligible for federal financial aid programs available through the U.S. Department of Education.

DiNicola, an Erie native whose parents never went to high school, said he was raised to believe that education was the "most important thing in the world."

It was a lesson he took to heart, he said, and drove him in this effort.

"We took a private-public sector coalition and we made it work," DiNicola said. "No one was going to get this done on their own. But moving together, we did."

A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNRao

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County Community College: Ron DiNicola to exit board of trustees