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Dale Mabry Campus President Dr. Allen Witt Announces Retirement

06/09/2021

(TAMPA, Fla., 06/09/21) – After serving Hillsborough Community College for 14 years, Dr. Allen Witt will retire, effective summer 2021. A third-generation educator, he has served in the Florida College System as a teacher and administrator for 33 years.

Dr. Witt first joined the HCC family in 2007 as the founding academic dean at the SouthShore Campus, later becoming campus president in 2009. Since January 2018, he has served as the Dale Mabry Campus president.

Among the many accomplishments achieved under Dr. Witt’s tenured administration:

 

  • As SouthShore Campus president, doubled enrollment and oversaw the campus’ rapid physical expansion.
  • Helped start the Lennard Collegiate Academy in 2008, a dual enrollment partnership between the SouthShore Campus and Lennard High School.
  • Oversaw the creation of the SouthShore Campus nursing and emergency medical paramedic programs.
  • Opened the SouthShore Science and Technology Center in 2015.
  • As Dale Mabry Campus president, oversaw major campus construction and remodeling, including the opening of the Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel Allied Health Building.
  • Led the Dale Mabry Campus through the shift to virtual course delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

Prior to his arrival at HCC, Dr. Witt held positions such as department head at Broward College South Campus and the Eissey Campus associate dean for Palm Beach State College. He is known nationally as a historian of the community college movement and is the lead author of the book America’s Community Colleges: The First Century. 

Dr. Witt holds a Ph.D. in higher education leadership from the University of Florida; a master of arts in dramatic arts from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; and a bachelor of arts in speech/theatre from Newberry College.

In honor of the tenure of Dr. Allen Witt during his 14 years at HCC, as well as his lifelong legacy as an educator and leader, the HCC Foundation will establish The Dr. Allen and Mercedes Witt Endowed Scholarship Fund upon his retirement. The fund will provide scholarships for students at the SouthShore Campus, where Dr. Witt first became a campus president.

The HCC community will hold a virtual celebration to honor and bid a fond farewell to Dr. Witt on June 16, 2021. He is succeeded by Dr. Paige Niehaus, who will assume the position of Dale Mabry Campus president on July 1, 2021.

Hillsborough Community College serves more than 47,000 students annually at its five campuses located throughout Tampa Bay. The College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information, visit hccfl.edu.

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