Harcum Alum is Guest Speaker at 100th Commencement

Bryn Mawr, PA -- (April 25, 2016) -- More than 440 students will become official graduates of Harcum College during their 100th Commencement. Cynthia Simms ’76 will be Harcum’s commencement speaker at the ceremony to be held Saturday May 14, 2016 at 11 a.m. on the Great Lawn of the Academic Center at Harcum, 750 Montgomery Avenue in Bryn Mawr, PA.

Besides selecting an alumna to give the Commencement address, Harcum will also recognize dozens of successful alums at their 100th graduation ceremony including Teddy Lynch Getty-Gaston ’29, Suzanne Fleisher Roberts ’41, and Sandra Smollen Jaffe ’58, founder of Preservation Hall.

A seasoned professional who is expert in helping people find their particular strengths and making organizations successful, Cynthia Simms has more than 15 years of successful human resources management experience.

Having earned an early childhood education degree from Harcum and a bachelor’s degree in sociology/anthropology from Richard Stockton College, Simms joined the gaming industry.

Cynthia began her career as a Casino Cage Cashier with the Las Vegas Club in Las Vegas, NV in 1979. Having her ‘eye on the eye in the sky,’ she transitioned into the life of surveillance and became the manager of surveillance for Harrah’s Casino in Joliet, IL, which is also where she began her career in human resources.

During her tenure as Regional Vice President Human Resources for Caesars Entertainment in Tunica, MS, she was requested to serve as HR Integration Leader during the $9 billion acquisition of Caesars Entertainment by Harrah’s Entertainment; where she leveraged best practices and synergistic approaches alignment, with planning and analysis. In a labor pool drawn from a largely rural population that had spent their working lives in factories and agriculture, she had to create processes to recruit, train and inspire new employees. She employed the skill-building steps for recruiting and retaining good employees, steps that everyone can use when starting a career: mentoring, sponsoring, identifying good opportunities and then following up.

She has developed innovative programs to streamline processes and capitalize on organizational growth opportunities. Her areas of practical expertise include project management, program assessment, policy design and administration, HRIS implementation, employee relations, dispute resolution, employee labor law, legal issues and compliance.

About Harcum College

Harcum College, one of Pennsylvania’s first independent, two-year colleges, was founded in Bryn Mawr, PA in 1915 and is celebrating its Centennial in 2015-16. Harcum was the first associate degree college in Pennsylvania co-founded by a woman, Edith Hatcher Harcum, and the first chartered by the state to grant associate degrees. Harcum offers fully accredited, career-ready majors in nursing, the allied health professions, business and social sciences on campus, online, and at Partnership Sites throughout southeastern Pennsylvania.