{"id":29551,"date":"2015-06-29T15:01:32","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T19:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2015\/06\/29\/necc-dean-honored-by-lawrence-ywca\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:16:37","slug":"necc-dean-honored-by-lawrence-ywca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/29\/necc-dean-honored-by-lawrence-ywca\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Dean Honored by Lawrence YWCA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11596\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Dawna-Perez-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11596\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11596\" alt=\"NECC's Dean of Student Success Dawna Perez of Haverhill was recently honored by the Lawrence YWCA.\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2015\/06\/Dawna-Perez-1-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11596\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NECC&#8217;s Dean of Student Success Dawna Perez of Haverhill was recently honored by the Lawrence YWCA.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Northern Essex Community College administrator Dawna M. Perez, Ph.D., of Haverhill, was one of 23 women to be honored during the 32nd Lawrence YWCA\u2019s Tribute to Women held recently at the Andover Country Club.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0As Northern Essex\u2019s dean of student success, Perez heads the Student Success Center on the Lawrence campus where she is responsible for linking and expanding student success strategies and initiatives across the college.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Perez, who has worked at Northern Essex in a number of positions since 2006, was nominated for the honor by several Northern Essex colleagues, all of whom lauded her for her for being a role model, mentor and consummate professional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is committed to helping students succeed and her priority is about retention so as to empower students to achieve their dreams and have a better life for themselves,\u201d wrote Karen MacDonald Fehr, LICSW.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0NECC\u2019s academic success\/career coach Karletty R. Medina, was in the 6<sup>th<\/sup> grade when she first met Perez who was overseeing 63 Lawrence students in an \u201cI Have a Dream Initiative,\u201d wrote, \u201cTo us, \u2018I Have a Dream\u2019 was not just an afterschool program or Dawna\u2019s job, it was our lives and she was another member of our family. We saw them every day, even on weekends, for 8 years of our lives. Dawna was, and still is, my mentor and my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Gisela Ramirez Nash, NECC\u2019s director, Title V\/Student Success Programs, supported the nomination writing, \u201cThroughout her life Dawna has been committed to improving literacy and education in the city of Lawrence.\u00a0 As a young adult she became involved with the \u2018I Have a Dream Program\u2019, an educational initiative designed to positively impact and transforms the lives of young Lawrence residents. Later, she was involved with the Literacy Works Program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cWhatever the title, Dawna has been a champion of students, particularly those from historically underserved populations,\u201d wrote Bill Heineman, vice president of NECC\u2019s academic affairs and student affairs. \u201cDawna has achieved so much at the college, and her positive attitude and &#8220;can-do&#8221; spirit are greatly valued.\u00a0 She has taken on difficult challenges with enthusiasm and good humor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Prior to being appointed dean of student success, Perez served as NECC\u2019s associate dean of access and community building and was charged with overseeing NECC\u2019s Community Relations Office and the Grant Resource Center. She also had a leading role in several national and local initiatives. Perez has also been the driving force behind the Early Alert Program, a pilot program designed to identify students struggling with academic and non-academic issues, and eliminate barriers that impact their success.<\/p>\n<p>Fluent in Spanish, she has a clear understanding of Latin culture and is sensitive to the diverse needs of NECC\u2019s students and the Lawrence community.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Sociology from Colby College, a Master of Business Administration in Human Services from Brandeis University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Systems from Saybrook University.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Perez lives in Haverhill with her husband David and four sons.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0For 32 years the YWCA\u2019s Tribute to Women luncheon has honored a select group of women who live or work within our service area of the Merrimack Valley, Essex County or Southern NH. Honorees are women of achievement in both their professions and communities who have made a difference in the workplace and in the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Essex Community College administrator Dawna M. Perez, Ph.D., of Haverhill, was one of 23 women to be honored during the 32nd Lawrence YWCA\u2019s Tribute to Women held recently at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NECC Dean Honored by Lawrence YWCA - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/29\/necc-dean-honored-by-lawrence-ywca\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Dean Honored by Lawrence YWCA - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Northern Essex Community College administrator Dawna M. 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