(SSC photo: Dr. Monica Brown at right, greeting students at start of fall quarter)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The new president of South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), Dr. Monica Brown, is in her fourth month of leading West Seattle’s only higher-education institution.

But who’s counting? She is. When we sat down to talk recently, she cited the number of days she had been on the job, “and I have been counting.” (In a good way,)

This is her first college presidency, after several senior roles elsewhere, most recently senior vice president for student affairs at Montgomery College in the Washington, D.C., area, a job in which she was “primarily responsible for all things related to student services.” More of an “internal” role, she said, but with external support involved.

What hasn’t changed in her elevation to a presidency is the “focus on all things students’ success.” Working with her cabinet, she says, it’s important to have a sense of the community’s needs as well as students’ needs, though “these things are ever evolving.”

After more than 20 years at Montgomery College, she crossed the country to come work at South Seattle College. Why?

Dr. Brown said she was considering some opportunities, “interested in being a president but not just any president. … This resonated with me for many reasons – many institutions talk about student success, equity, and diversity, but what really stood out was the possibility of becoming an anti-racist institution – it was bold, and related to my work at Montgomery College, which was on the path to becoming an anti-racist institution. To hear the bold way Seattle Colleges [system of which SSC is part] was taking that journey really resonated with me.”

Seattle Colleges – the three-school system of which SSC is a part – was seeking three presidents simultaneously, which Dr. Brown initially considered “bizarre,” but then thought it was a “good move by the chancellor to create a cohort of new individuals to come in and lead.” (The chancellor, Dr. Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap, is a former SSC president.) She says she connected with search committee members and then when she visited the campus, “I felt like I had come home … I felt it was a place I could learn and grow and help advance the work.”

So what will it mean to transform SSC into an anti-racist college? First, Dr. Brown says, you can’t just pay lip service. “What we’ve done is quite bold.” The new strategic plan calls for DEI to be part of each goal, not a “standalone goal … it’s a journey. We’re holding ourselves responsible for policies, procedures, having the courage to change thoe things that don’t align with that goal.” It’s key to think about everything through an EDIC lens. and to hold everyone accountable for making that happen. They’re also doing training together, with personnel from all three colleges.

So how does this fit directly into the education SSC provides? “To be sure it’s part of our curriculum, a culturally diverse curriculum .., to teach and learn in a diversity environment. Our staff is getting training about engaging with someone from a different culture, and they’re making sure that’s part of college hiring practices.”

How does it enrich specific curriculums? It prepares students for “working with folks from all walks of life – here, you might work with students, faculty, staff with different beliefs – “it’s a true learning and real-life experience.”

What about changes in curriculum at SSC? “We’re always doing viability studies …to ensure we’re offering innovative practices, industry partners, to be sure we can meet the needs and demands, so students can be ready for the work force … It’s also about being sure that the college is sustainable.”

Obviously enrollment is a major part of that. More than 4,500 students were enrolled at the start of fall quarter. “Enrollment is trending upward. After the pandemic, we and schools across the country saw an enrollment decline, but we’ve seen an increase in students enrolled this quarter, and we are back in person. We were out welcoming students (at the start of the quarter), that never gets old.”

What’s hot at SSC? The trades. Some programs have waitlists – Aviation Maintenance Technology is fully enrolled with a waitlist; Automotive Technology filled up, so another section was opened to make room for waitlisted students; Welding Fabrication Technology is also fully enrolled with a waitlist. Other programs offered at the college include the perennially popular Culinary Arts. “One of my first hires was for (the trades),” Dr. Brown notes.

Overall, she says, “I think we have moved past the pandemic … I think we are settling down….. Never allow crises to go to waste – we’ve learned to be more innovative, more creative, we’ve thought more about the needs of our students … some faculty were reluctant to use technology but they went through training, and a lot of services we thought we could only deliver in person, we developed online, so now we have this hybrid, and I think that’s something good.”

So how have students’ needs changed? “We’re more aware – students feel more comfortable sharing, and our role is more than teaching and learning, it’s more holistic.” That means providing services such as a food pantry – “how we are addressing students’ basic needs – we’ll have food bank refrigerators so they can access after hours … previously we wanted students to compartmentalize, when they were here they were students (only). Now we recognize that students come to us holistically, so if we can’t meet their needs, we develop partners.”

And yes, like other levels of education, community colleges are dealing with state funding crunch. “We have to be very intentional about where we put our resources. A large portion of our budget goes to personnel — to be sure we have the faculty that can do the real focus of our work. We’re continuing to advocate for the funding that community colleges deserve. Our students have different needs from those at UW. We’re simply asking for our fair share … It takes a great deal of effort to be sure we are not forgotten.”

What’s South Seattle College’s mission? Dr. Brown says, “South is here to be the community’s college, help uplift the community, to make a difference in a student’s life, one student at a time – we truly get to change lives one student at a time. We turn out community members, people who are civically responsible.”

What else should people know? “We are the largest employer in West Seattle, even though some in the area don’t know we exist. We want people to visit, come see us, take a class … if you’re a high-school student, hopefully you know about Running Start or Seattle Promise … and for those interested in returning to school, we have a program that’ll give credit for living experience. What I love about community college is the many opportunities – we have people coming to us at different ages and stages in life, so many different pathways, ways to meet people where they are. We’re here and we can help them get there.”

Enrollment for winter quarter is under way now – find out more here.