New Chair and Vice Chair Elected to Harford Community College Board of Trustees

James J. Valdes, Ph.D. has been elected Chair and Richard D. Norling has been elected Vice Chair of the Harford Community College Board of Trustees. 

Dr. Valdes, who has served three terms as Vice Chair, joined the Board in 2007.  He is scientific advisor for biotechnology at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, where he serves as the senior biological scientist and advisor to the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Group, and he is Senior Research Fellow at the National Defense University's Center for Technology and National Security Policy. Dr. Valdes holds a B.S. from Loyola University of Chicago, an M.S. from Trinity University, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience/Chemistry of Behavior from Texas Christian University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in neurotoxicity at The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Dr. Valdes is an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and an adjunct professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. He is the author of more than 130 scientific journal articles and 55 technical reports. He has given more than 300 presentations to international scientific professional groups, and he holds seven patents. In 2003 and 2009, Dr. Valdes received the Presidential Rank Award presented by the Secretary of the Army and the Vice Chief of Army Staff on behalf of the President.

Mr. Norling, who has served on the Board since 2009, is Senior Policy Analyst at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the former chair of the Harford County Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission. He served as chair of the Budget Advisory Board to the Harford County Council from 2000-2002. Mr. Norling previously served as program coordinator for the Ocean Energy Licensing Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); staff director of two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries; and founder/CEO of a computer software company. He is the owner and manager of Deer Creek Farm in Darlington. Mr. Norling earned a B.S. in mathematics and a B.A. and M.A. in political science from The Ohio State University. He earned a M.Phil. in political science from Yale University. He is a 1997 graduate of the Harford Leadership Academy and resides in Darlington.