Hartwick Names Director
Of New Innovation Center
ONEONTA – Patricia L. (Patti) Delaney has been named the first director of Hartwick College’s Griffiths Center for Collaboration & Innovation, President Margaret L. Drugovich announced today.
Launched in 2018 with a $1.25 million gift from Sally Griffiths Herbert ’88, H’19 and Tim Herbert, the Center is an idea incubator and an instigator of innovative approaches and creative problem solving. It includes three Innovation Stations: the Makerspace, Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab), and entrepreneurship hub (E-Hub), where ideas, theory, and practice will support entrepreneurial models of thought and action across the curriculum.
In her new job, Delaney will promote a culture of collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship at the college. On the College’s Strategic Leadership Team, she will lead a cross-campus advisory committee to develop programs in those areas.
She comes here from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt., where she was inaugural director of its Public Health program, special assistant to the vice president of academic affairs for international projects, and associate professor of anthropology.
“Patricia brings to Hartwick well-honed skills in the application of design- and systems-thinking when engaged in the creative change process,” said Drugovich. “There is perfect alignment between Patti’s objectives in this role and our collective, aspirational work.”
Delaney said: “Hartwick College’s forward-thinking vision, innovative approach, and careful delineation of the Center’s many component parts, clearly demonstrates institutional commitment to the transformative power of design thinking and the burgeoning culture of innovation.”
She has spent a large portion of her career conducting international service and fieldwork on the front lines of public health challenges in post-conflict countries like Angola and Brazil. Her international experience includes tenures as a director with the Peace Corps in Tonga and technical adviser to the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste.
Delaney is also extensively published, and she has conducted numerous training sessions and in the areas of ethnography, gender studies, and research. During her career, she has also received a host of grants and fellowships during her career, including two Fulbright Scholarships.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in foreign service/Latin American studies from Georgetown University. She received a master’s in 1991 and in 1994 a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in anthropology. She also served a post-doctorate fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A native of Virginia Beach, Delaney has worked in over 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica. She speaks five languages, and has lived for more than six months in Brazil, Timor-Leste, Tonga, and South Korea.
She is an avid outdoor adventurer, and also enjoys live music, reading, and spending time with my family. Delaney is married and has a 9-year-old son.