Volunteer Power
Each year, the Board of Trustees of Community-Technical Colleges invites presidents to nominate individuals who have advanced the community college mission through their exemplary service. This year, Naugatuck Valley Community College recognized longtime Waterbury activist Mary Rosengrant-Chiappalone with the Board of Trustees’ Merit Award.
Rosengrant-Chiappalone is a board member of the NVCC Foundation and serves on its Executive Committee. She has been a frequent volunteer actor in the Foundation’s annual Mystery Dinner Theater and also chairs the College’s facilities naming advisory committee.
“When I arrived on campus, Mary reached out to me and has been a source of counsel and support,” said Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., president of Naugatuck Valley Community College. “She is a very generous colleague and community supporter. She is hardworking, kind and compassionate, characteristics that are vital to the advancement of our institution in the community. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful advocate for our students and our College on the Foundation.”
In addition to her volunteerism at NVCC, Mary is a council member of the Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center, where she chairs the nominating committee and co-chairs the annual Brass Button award event and fundraiser. She is a board member of the Greater Waterbury Chamber Of Commerce and a member of the St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary, where she worked with the annual champion dinner fundraiser, a United Way campaign leader and was one of the 2010 Leavenworth Society co-chairs. She was a member of the Waterbury City Hall rededication committee and is on the Seven Angels Theater steering committee and co-chaired its 20th anniversary fundraiser. She is also a past board member of the Waterbury YMCA and a past chair of, and current advisor to, the Business Women’s Forum.