Brockway and Campion Inducted into DCC Alumni Hall of Fame

Release Date April 27, 2007

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – Dutchess Community College added two new inductees to its Alumni Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Friday, April 27 at Dutchess Hall at the DCC main campus in Poughkeepsie. Pawling resident Betsy H. Brockway, class of ’82, the director of the Dutchess County Health and Human Services Cabinet, and Livingston resident and Hyde Park native James Campion, class of ’70, the president of Columbia-Greene Community College, were selected for this year’s honor. The DCC Alumni Association also celebrated the reunion classes of 1976, 1977, 1982, 1987 and 1997 at a dinner at the Culinary Institute of America’s Saint Andrew’s Café following the Alumni Hall of Fame dedication.

 “It is with great pride that we honor these two outstanding alumni,” said DCC President Dr. D. David Conklin at the induction ceremony. “We are proud…because of their contributions to their professions, their families and their communities.” Conklin noted that, “You measure the success of a college by the success of its graduates. By this measure, (Jim and Betsy) prove that DCC is a success. They are exemplary role models who prove that good work and kind hearts do lead to success in life.”

As director of the Dutchess County Health and Human Services Cabinet, Brockway serves as assistant to Dutchess County Executive Bill Steinhaus. She oversees the Dutchess County Departments of Social Services; Health, Mental Hygiene; the Office for the Aging; the Veterans Service Agency; and the Youth Bureau. Previously, she served for 13 years as executive director of the Dutchess County Youth Bureau, where she implemented the County Executive’s initiative to create the Children’s Services Council as “a single, county-wide conversation” on children, youth and family issues. This initiative was recognized by United Way of New York as the 2002 Best Community Collaboration.

Brockway has volunteered for over 30 years with the Girl Scouts of Dutchess County, and was recognized with the Girl Scouts’ “Seat of Honor” in 2006. She co-chaired Dutchess County Government’s United Way Campaigns for several years, and also served on the Dutchess County Youth Board from 1989 to1992, chairing that board for two years. She has volunteered with numerous Pawling-based organizations, including Pawling Free Library, Holiday Hills YMCA, Pawling High School Building Level Team, Pawling Historical Society, and the Pawling Chamber of Commerce.

Brockway’s career in public service followed her graduation from DCC as a nontraditional student, where she earned an Associate in Applied Science degree with honors in recreation leadership. She went on to serve as recreation director for the Town of Pawling from 1982 to 1987. In 1992, Brockway earned her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude (with a G.P.A. of 4.0) from SUNY Purchase with a major in liberal studies, social sciences.

Campion has had a 33-year career in higher education and has served as president of Columbia-Greene since December 2000. He is the only community college president in the state to have graduated from a New York State community college. Previously, he served as the Columbia-Greene’s dean of community services and executive director of the Columbia-Greene Community Foundation. He has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service and was named to the State University of New York’s Alumni Honor Roll. In 2002, he was designated Citizen of the Year by the Columbia County Association, and was honored with the 2005 Friend of Scouting award by the Mahikan District of the Boy Scouts of America.

Campion serves as a trustee of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, is chairman of the local Advisory Council of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, and a member of the Livingston Free Library Fund Raising Committee. He has served in leadership roles on many community boards of directors, including the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, the Friends of Olana, the Columbia County Association in the City of New York, Hudson Opera House, the Inter-County Board of Senior Citizens, and Literacy Volunteers of Greene and Columbia Counties. He is a former trustee and vice chairman of the Columbia Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.

He holds an Associate in Arts from Dutchess Community College, a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a Master of Science in Educational Administration and a Certificate of Graduate Study in autism from the State University of New York at Albany. He completed the Seminar for New Presidents at Harvard University as well as the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Management Development Program, and is currently an invited lecturer with Harvard’s Institutes for Higher Education.

DCC established its Alumni Hall of Fame, located on the ground floor of Dutchess Hall at the main campus in Poughkeepise, in 2005. Previous inductees include Dutchess County Executive William R. Steinhaus, actor/director Bill Duke, Betsy Seaman-Brown, Vincent DiMaso, The Honorable Christine Sproat, and Timmian Massie.

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