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Proclamation thanking Dr. Deno De Ciantis for his 26 years of dedicated service to Pennsylvania State University and the residents of Allegheny County.
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WHEREAS, Dr. Deno De Ciantis has served the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh through his work as an educator, researcher and administrator at Penn State University, Pennsylvania’s only land-grant university, since 1990; and
WHEREAS, from 1990 to 1993, Dr. De Ciantis served as a 4-H Youth Development Coordinator for Penn State Cooperative Extension of Allegheny County, and since 1993 as the Penn State Cooperative Extension Director, serving the 1.3 million residents of Allegheny County. Since 2008, he has served as the Director of the Penn State Center Pittsburgh (PSCP), an office of Extension, Outreach and Online Education; and
WHEREAS, in an effort to improve educational and research programming in the Pittsburgh region, in 2015, Dr. De Ciantis successfully moved the staff of the PSCP to a new, state-of-the-art building, known as the Energy Innovation Center, located in downtown Pittsburgh; and
WHEREAS, Dr. De Ciantis worked tirelessly to connect research, service and learning to meet Pittsburgh’s regional needs, and he successfully created opportunities for engaged scholarship and the use of research-based best practices to solve community problems; and
WHEREAS, Dr. De Ciantis was awarded the inaugural National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL) Leader of the Year Award in 2015. His services and affiliations include numerous county governments, Penn State committees, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Duquesne University Century Club of Distinguished Alumni, Autumn House Press Board, Three Rivers Community Foundation Board and other local community initiatives;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Allegheny County Council does hereby commend Dr. Deno De Ciantis for his 26 years of dedication, commitment and exemplary leadership, and we thank him for bringing the educational resources of Penn State University to the residents of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. FURTHERMORE, upon the occasion of his retirement, we wish him much happiness as he begins this new chapter in his life.