MELROSE PARK, Pa.—Gratz College has welcomed two Philadelphia-area professionals to its Board of Governors.
 
During a meeting in June, Shelly LaPrince and Sharon F. Liebhaber were elected to serve three-year terms on the board, which has primary responsibility for oversight of the college. The appointments further expand the board’s academic and professional diversity.
 
LaPrince holds a Ph.D. in Organization and Management and a Masters in Business Administration, and she is currently working on a Masters in Health Administration from Capella University. A healthcare economics consultant for Optum, LaPrince also is an adjunct health care professor at Drexel University. She brings to Gratz’s Board of Governors her experiences as both a professor and student in online programs.
 
“I teach online and I’m a student online, so I have experience from both perspectives,” she said. “With Gratz’s growing presence in the online platform, I can provide insights from being both an online student and a faculty member. Additionally, with my background in business, I can assist with developing strategies that will maximize shareholder value.”
 
A resident of Douglassville, Pa., LaPrince is a member of Congregation Temple Beth’El. Her husband of 22 years is a graduate of Gratz’s Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies. The couple has two children.
 
Liebhaber, a public interest lawyer in Pennsylvania, has focused much of her work on issues involving poverty law, domestic violence, the elderly and child advocacy. She worked as an attorney or law school professor in New Hampshire, Michigan, New Jersey and New York before settling in the Philadelphia area where her husband has worked as a rabbi and college professor.
 
"We chose to move to Pennsylvania because of its Jewish day schools, adult Jewish education and the Jewish community here in the Philadelphia area," Liebhaber said. "We also knew about Gratz and looked forward to being able to take advantage of everything it had to offer."
 
Liebhaber has taken Hebrew and Yiddish classes at Gratz, as well as courses that offer Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. She and her husband of 37 years have two children and five grandchildren.
 
Also during its June meeting, the Board of Governors named Lance Sussman as board chair. Sussman, who holds a Ph.D. in American Jewish history and currently serves as senior rabbi at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, will serve in the position for one year.
 
Sussman said his goals as chair include finding ways to engage the increasingly diverse Jewish community and to expand the college’s reach. In 2020, Gratz will celebrate its 125^th birthday, and Sussman wants to both honor the college’s roots and widen its spectrum in the future.
 
“Gratz is a child of the 19^th Century, with deep roots in Philadelphia’s Jewish community,” he said. “But the Jewish community looks a lot different than it did 125 years ago, and Gratz has become a very diverse place that attracts students and professionals from populations that reflect the world’s changing demographics. The board should also reflect those changes, especially as we continue to strive for diversity, inclusion and harmony while continuing to nourish our Jewish roots.”