Each brings deep knowledge of Messiah to group
Three new members of the President’s Cabinet have been announced recently.
Marcelle Giovannetti, vice provost of student success and engagement
After several years of working at Messiah as an assistant professor of counseling, Marcelle Giovannetti was promoted to the vice provost of student success and engagement July 1. She came to the United States from India in 1996, unsure of what field she should pick.
“When you grow up in a country with limited options—especially at that time in India—counseling as a profession didn’t exist,” she explained. “I always say to my students that I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
After starting at Elizabethtown College, she found that she enjoyed her psychology courses the most and then chose that as her undergraduate major. She holds a master’s in clinical mental health counseling and an Ed.D. in counselor education and supervision, both from Shippensburg University. While she was working on her master’s in 2012, she came to Messiah as an intern in the Engle Center, where she later worked as a full-time counselor. After years of working as an adjunct, she switched to teaching full-time in Messiah’s graduate counseling program in 2020.
“As an educator, you get to teach counselors, and they get to impact others. The scope of influence in providing care and support is much wider,” said Giovannetti, who maintains a private counseling practice.
She says she is enjoying serving students in her new role. "Being the advisor to SGA has helped me remain deeply connected to the student experience at Messiah," said Giovannetti.
Gary Nowicki, vice president for finance and planning
As an investment banker for 30 years whose clients were all in higher education, Gary Nowicki was familiar with Messiah before he ever started working here.
“I’ve worked with most colleges in Pennsylvania in that capacity, so I’ve already worked with Messiah for years,” said Nowicki. “This is where God wants me to be.”
He began his role on campus as the vice president for finance and planning, overseeing procurement, budgeting, accounting, investor relations and more, in October of 2022.
From Pittsburgh, he has a bachelor’s in chemistry from
The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. He worked as a chemist before switching to investment banking.
As someone well-versed in the fiscal health of higher ed, he sees a bright future for Messiah.
“We have 94 private universities in Pennsylvania,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition, and we have a shrinking population. We’ll definitely have challenges going forward, but we are special. We are different. We have our competitors, but we do a very good job of differentiating ourselves.”
Jon Stuckey, vice president of advancement
Although he began working as the vice president of advancement in January, Jon Stuckey began at Messiah in 2000 when he started the grants program on campus. He then moved to the director of advancement, a position he held since 2007.
In addition to advancement, he oversees the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations and the Office of Marketing and Communications.
“Mostly what I do is advocate for our directors and still advance the mission of Messiah University through fundraising with our alumni and parent/friend community,” he said.
He holds a bachelor’s in psychology from Malone University along with a master’s and Ph.D. in sociology, both from Case Western Reserve University.
“When I am out with alumni where they’re working, where they’re serving the Lord, it’s a very energizing and encouraging part of this work to see what our alumni are doing for the Kingdom and throughout the world.”
—Staff report