{"id":155,"date":"2020-11-30T12:23:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T17:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/?page_id=155"},"modified":"2020-12-01T09:47:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T14:47:34","slug":"karen-l-pennington","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/karen-l-pennington\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen L. Pennington"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Karen<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life<\/p>\n

Karen L. Pennington likes to say that Montclair State is \u201ca place where you can come and be who you are.\u201d Speaking with the students whose lives she has shaped in her 22 years as Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life, something else is clear about Pennington, who is retiring this year: she made Montclair State a place where students realize the person they can become.<\/p>\n

“Dr. Pennington is a phenomenal woman who went above and beyond during my medical school pursuits and has always been in my corner,\u201d writes Vaughn McEnough Jr. \u201909, \u201913 MA, who earned his degrees in Molecular Biology and hopes to become a surgeon. \u201cEven beyond writing letters of recommendation, she facilitated an atmosphere where I could sit and talk with renowned physicians in the field to inspire and motivate me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am one of the students that can say, with 100% certainty, that I am a beneficiary of Dr. Pennington\u2019s wealth of knowledge as a student affairs professional and a kind and caring human being,\u201d says Matt Lerman \u201917, BA Business Administration with a concentration in Management. He is currently working at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, as the Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life. \u201cBecause of Dr. Pennington, I am a proud Red Hawk!\u201d<\/p>\n

During her time as SGA President, Serafina Genise \u201919 says she blossomed under Pennington\u2019s mentorship. But when it was time to leave the nest, Genise was hesitant, even a bit scared. \u201cShe told me it was time for me to go have a different experience. Take everything I had learned during my four years at Montclair and use it where I went next.\u201d Genise is currently studying for her master\u2019s in Higher Education Administration at Rowan University where she works as a graduate coordinator for the Student Center and Campus Activities.<\/p>\n

How is such trust earned? \u201cShe always made it a point to check in on me and I really appreciated that,\u201d says Fathia Balgahoom, a junior majoring in History and completing a certification in Social Studies for grades P-12. Pennington\u2019s guidance helped her become more comfortable in the Student Trustee position. \u201cI want to thank Dr. Pennington for playing such a large role in my life. She taught me how to be comfortable in my own skin as a leader and a student.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Pennington\u2019s encyclopedic knowledge of the University is \u201cformidable,\u201d Nikita Williams \u201920 highlighted her fun side along with the grit. \u201cI try to model her attention to detail and her endless capacity for new ideas,\u201d says Williams. \u201cShe taught me incredible lessons about strategic leadership, self-compassion, and the importance of an office filled with plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Juzdan \u201914 worked with Pennington while on the SGA to purchase the Red Hawk statue. Besides teaching him \u201chow to create positive change in the community along with how to work with all different kinds of people,\u201d Pennington also made it possible for Rocky the Red Hawk to attend Juzdan\u2019s wedding. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget it! I am so happy that I was mentored and taught by one of the greatest people at Montclair State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennington also shows students that kindness isn’t a weakness.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Pennington taught me that in order for a community to thrive, it needs leadership that is both firm and yielding, a leader that seeks to identify the needs of the community they serve and implement actions to remedy those needs,\u201d says Alisha Tillman \u201805, Health Education, and a registered nurse in Philadelphia. \u201cShe taught me that a female leader in particular should be both a force to be reckoned with and a reliable stalwart ally in times of crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says McEnough: \u201cShe is simply amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story by Staff Writer Mary Barr Mann<\/p>\n

\"Karen
George Juzdan \u201914 (fourth from right) credits Karen Pennington for making it possible for Rocky the Red Hawk to attend his wedding in February 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-155","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/lasting-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}