Mount Wachusett Community College has appointed two staff members to key positions within the college’s Access & Transition division. Established by President Daniel M. Asquino nearly two decades ago, the division now serves 4,000 North Central Massachusetts middle and high school students annually through 18 distinct programs in partnership with a dozen area school districts.

Fagan Forhan of Lancaster has been appointed assistant dean of K-12 partnerships & civic engagement. For the past 10 years, she has worked to propel MWCC to the forefront of state and national civic engagement leadership, most recently as director of experiential learning opportunities and civic engagement and director of MWCC’s Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement.

She has been responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of implementation for the Center for Civic Learning & Community Engagement, which includes United Way Youth Venture of North Central Massachusetts, the Students SOS program, internships, service learning and career placement. In her new role, she will work to further incorporate civic learning into the K-12 partnership programs.

Forhan serves on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education’s study group on civic learning and is a member of the national steering committees for The Democracy Commitment and for the American Association for State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) Economic Inequality Initiative. She serves on the foundation board for the Sizer School in Fitchburg, and as advisor to MWCC’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, and the student club Otaku United.

Prior to joining MWCC in 2006, Forhan served for six years as chief of staff for former State Rep. Brian Knuuttila. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is pursuing a master’s degree in applied communications from Fitchburg State University.

Craig Elkins of Fitchburg has been promoted within the division to senior director of dual enrollment, assuming greater responsibility overseeing the college’s dual enrollment and early college initiatives. Over the past decade, Elkins has been committed to helping underrepresented youth from North Central Massachusetts achieve their educational goals through his service in local school districts as well as state and federally funded grant programs at MWCC. As a first-generation college student, Elkins is aware of the challenges young people face as they work toward completing high school and earning college degrees. He works diligently to educate and mentor students and instill in them the skills necessary to be academically successful, engaged citizens and active community members.

Elkins received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Plymouth State University and a master’s of education degree in leadership and management from Fitchburg State University.

 

“We are delighted to announce these key leadership appointments to the enterprising division of Access and Transition,” said Lea Ann Scales, Vice President of External Affairs, Communications and K-12 Partnerships. “Fagan and Craig both bring great energy, strategic thinking and a deep commitment to our K-12 partners and our region’s students.”

Craig Elkins of Fitchburg has been promoted within the division to senior director of dual enrollment, assuming greater responsibility overseeing the college’s dual enrollment and early college initiatives. Over the past decade, Elkins has been committed to helping underrepresented youth from North Central Massachusetts achieve their educational goals through his service in local school districts as well as state and federally funded grant programs at MWCC. As a first-generation college student, Elkins is aware of the challenges young people face as they work toward completing high school and earning college degrees. He works diligently to educate and mentor students and instill in them the skills necessary to be academically successful, engaged citizens and active community members.

Elkins received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Plymouth State University and a master’s of education degree in leadership and management from Fitchburg State University.

“We are delighted to announce these key leadership appointments to the enterprising division of Access and Transition,” said Lea Ann Scales, Vice President of External Affairs, Communications and K-12 Partnerships. “Fagan and Craig both bring great energy, strategic thinking and a deep commitment to our K-12 partners and our region’s students.”

 

Mount Wachusett Community College’s Humanities Project continues with “Girls and Their Ghost Stories: Feminism, Philosophy, and Frankenstein,” a free lecture and discussion taking place Thursday, March 24 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Athol Public Library.

The theme of this year’s MWCC Humanities Project, “Myths, Monsters, and Modern Science: Frankenstein’s Legacy,” takes an in-depth look at Mary Shelley’s 200-year-old novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, and its impact in the modern era.

How did Shelley, the daughter of radical thinkers Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin produce, at age 18, the best known Gothic tale of all time? MWCC Assistant Professor of Philosophy Daniel Soucy and Shelley Errington Nicholson, director of community learning at MWCC and an adjunct instructor at MWCC and Springfield College, will discuss the philosophical and political climate that influenced the writing of this classic novel.

The event is sponsored through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit mwcc.edu/humanitiesproject

 

Nashoba Valley Medical Center Opens Center for Pain Management

The center is the only comprehensive one in the Nashoba Valley region to provide services to

diagnose and treat chronic pain conditions

Nashoba Valley Medical Center’s (NVMC) recently opened a new comprehensive Center for Pain Management to provide pain management services to residents living in the Nashoba Valley region. The center employs a team of pain management experts who use the most modern techniques to treat a wide range of common chronic pain successfully.

“Prior to the opening of the Center for Pain Management, our patients had to travel to Nashoba’s sister hospital, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, to receive care for pain problems,” said Salvatore Perla, president of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “We are consistently evaluating the evolving health care needs of our patients, and the new center gives our patients accessibility to these services, close to home, which is especially important for someone experiencing chronic pain.”

NVMC’s Center for Pain Management is the only center in the Nashoba Valley region to provide services to diagnose and treat chronic pain conditions. Common chronic pain problems the center’s highly trained pain specialists treat include: arthritis; back pain; cancer-related pain; chronic neck pain; diabetes-related pain; fibromyalgia; intercostal neuralgia; ischemic-related pain; myofascial pain; neurogenic pain; osteoporosis; polymyalgia; post-operative pain; reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD); sciatica, shingles; stress-related pain and TMJ.

The center offers a wide range of services, including state-of-the-art fluoroscopic-guided spinal injections for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, medical management of pain and

related medications, interventional procedures, physical and occupational therapy, psychological support, opportunities for learning skills that minimize or prevent recurring pain, and education on specific chronic pain syndromes and treatment plans.

“Our multidisciplinary team of pain management experts work with each patient to evaluate the causes of their pain and develop a treatment plan that aims to maximize their personal potential and increase their functional capacity,” said Frederic Gerges, MD, director of the Center for Pain Management at Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “We strive to improve their ability to return to the activities they once enjoyed.”

For more information about NVMC’s Center for Pain Management, visit www.nashobamed.org/pain or call 866-698-7533.