Butler SUCCEED gets new administrator with seasoned history
The lights at the Slippery Rock University Center for Community Engagement, Empowerment, and Development (SUCCEED) at 150 N. Main Street in Butler will be on throughout the day Tuesday through Friday.
Josette Skobieranda-Dau started as the new administrator for Butler SUCCEED Jan. 18, and has noticed people walk up to the facility to see what is going on. She has been pleased to tell them the mission of SUCCEED, and in turn, her hopes for the position.
“My heart is with community and civic engagement and empowerment,” Skobieranda-Dau said. “The beauty of this role is it really links everything together that I truly love. Working with the community, working with businesses and nonprofits and organizations that may not have any space but have ideas — my role is to link all those folks together and leverage resources.”
Butler SUCCEED opened its doors in September, and is meant to bridge and connect campus and community stakeholders in mutually beneficial ways, focusing on community and economic development, community outreach and civic engagement, organizational strength and capacity building and training and professional development, according to its website.
SUCCEED has so far hosted workshops for people in recovery to express themselves through art and music, been a meeting site for community stakeholders for planning meetings and a hub for students to discuss the social and economic status of the region, according to Alice Delvecchio, director of SRU’s Institute for Nonprofit Leadership, which sometimes works out of the SUCCEED office.
The university began looking for an administrator for SUCCEED shortly after it opened because its previous administrator was leaving for a new position.
Skobieranda-Dau was most recently the director of student engagement at the University of Pittsburgh. The Erie native previously had similar positions at Kent State University; Edinboro University and several other schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
“We’re excited to have someone as seasoned and as capable as Josette and promote SUCCEED," Delvecchio said.
Skobieranda-Dau said she has been getting acclimated to the city of Butler and Butler County, and is looking for opportunities where SUCCEED could make an impact. She has also been meeting with community organizations such as nonprofits and churches.
“It’s the community that initiates the action, and then we provide the support to the action,” she said. “There are so many organizations trying.”
Delvecchio said Skobieranda-Dau’s presence in downtown Butler will help guide Butler SUCCEED’s programming. Previously, the office was only occupied for events and some planning days.
“It wasn’t consistent before,” Delvecchio said. “Now, we’ll have someone here all the time to welcome in the community and say we are permanent members of downtown Butler.”
The duties of her position at Butler SUCCEED combine several segments of university work, like bringing students together to support the local area. Skobieranda-Dau said that students will still be the driving force behind SUCCEED initiatives, but she wants to integrate them into the community they are part of as college students in Butler County.
Finding out what students want to see happen in Butler County is one of her starting points for efforts.
“We want the student ideas on what they are looking for in Butler County,” Skobieranda-Dau said. “The students also need to learn from the community, so it’s not just about giving, it’s about ‘What can they learn?’”
Skobieranda-Dau said another one of her passions is fostering diversity, equity and inclusion, and she was asked to be an adviser for a Black Action Society chapter.
A first-generation college graduate herself, Skobieranda-Dau also said she wants to work with incoming students of the kind that may have difficulty in moving through their schooling. During the 2021-22 school year, 12% of SRU’s students were non-majority ethnicity.
“A lot of first-generation college students come to a university and they’re not certain how to navigate the system because they’re the first,” Skobieranda-Dau said. “I really want to make sure that students have the tools and the access they need to resources that will help them ultimately graduate.”
When she got the job, Skobieranda-Dau moved to Butler from Allison Park in Allegheny County to be more connected to the community she is working in.
Skobieranda-Dau said she is looking forward to creating programs and activities through SUCCEED that will bolster Butler County life for everyone living in it.
“I see Butler as a very caring community,” Skobieranda-Dau said. “Every person who I have talked with really is invested and cares a lot about other people. It’s because of that small town feel that is why this position was so attractive to me.”
