Harcum Awarded Main Line Chamber’s Nonprofit Business of the Year

The 2012 Business Leadership Award winners: (L to R) Dr. Jon Jay DeTemple, Harcum College (Nonprofit of the Year); Karen Barsottini, Comfort Keepers (Large Business of the Year); Bob Schwelm, Bryn Mawr Running Company (Small Business of the Year); Sister Patricia Fadden, Immaculata University (Nonprofit of the Year); Michael Howard, American Executive Centers (Medium Business of the Year); Amy Frazier, PwC (F. Karl Schauffele Community Service Award); Joseph Carberry, Medical Solutions Supplier (Emerging Leader of the Year); Harris Fishman, First Financial Group (CEO of the Year) and Bernard Dagenais, president and CEO of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce


Harcum College will be honored by the Main Line Chamber of Commerce as its Nonprofit Business of the Year 2012.

Award criteria include growth and expansion of the business, innovative approaches to services, involvement in the community and professional associations and local, state, professional or trade recognition. In addition to Harcum, Immaculata University in Immaculata, Pa., was also named a Nonprofit of the Year. The Main Line Chamber will present the awards at the Chamber’s “A Celebration of Business Leadership” luncheon at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern on June 27, 2012.

“It is particularly gratifying that Harcum has received this recognition from the Main Line Chamber, whose members help define the quality of life for residents and the healthy climate for business in its service area,” said Harcum President Dr. Jon Jay DeTemple. “Harcum has been a Chamber member for many decades, and through this award, we are proud to represent all the area’s nonprofits, educational and otherwise, who contribute to the Main Line community and the region.”

Enrollment at Harcum College has risen over 70 percent in the past five years and is currently at a record high of 1,500 students. As the Main Line’s only independent associate degree granting college, Harcum fills a unique and increasingly sought-after niche between public community colleges and four-year institutions, with a coeducational residential campus, affordable tuition, small classes, comprehensive student life programs and over 20 majors, including several that few institutions in the region offer, such as occupational therapist assistant, physical therapist assistant and veterinary technology.

Harcum works with a variety of community partners, offering majors in leadership, human services, early childhood education and law and justice at partnership sites throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition, the College is known for its dedication to student access and student success. Approximately 87 percent of Harcum students receive some form of institutional, state or federal aid to support their education, and the majority of graduates of Harcum’s allied health programs are employed within a few months of graduation.

All of Harcum’s medical and science professional programs are fully accredited by their respective accrediting bodies. Harcum’s own accrediting body, the Middle States Commission, recently gave Harcum multiple commendations for its programs and academic planning.

By employing approximately 175 full and part-time staff and faculty, and through its resident student population, Harcum stimulates the local economy with student and faculty/staff expenditures and with institutional purchasing in the Philadelphia region. Its newly restored Little Theatre is an educational and community resource and meeting place for students, area businesses (including the Main Line Chamber of Commerce) and residents.

The College is also committed to community service, particularly through its dental programs. Children and adults over 55 years of age benefit from free or low-cost dental hygiene exams provided at Harcum’s Abram and Goldie Cohen Dental Center, as part of Harcum’s dental curricula.