Myisha Coleman

I have been working in higher education for 15 years, and I've been in my current position as Associate Dean of Success Coaching for Dual Credit Students since April 2021. In this role, I service 30,000 dual credit students who are dually enrolled in high school and college. Over the past 5 years, we have increased graduation rates by almost 50% and created a model of student engagement where students know they have a point of contact at the college campus. My staff are out on high school campuses working with students, whether it's celebrating their successes or identifying when they're experiencing personal issues based on their grades. This is trailblazing work, as many institutions don't have the level of staff or students that we have in these dual enrollment programs. Before this role, I worked at El Centro College as a STEM grant program coordinator for a federally funded STEM grant. My responsibilities included engaging students, providing STEM career programming, STEM academic advising, and managing STEM tutors. We did extensive outreach to students who were either considering a STEM major or who were in STEM courses, helping them figure out careers in STEM or get through courses they felt less confident in. I've also been a college club sponsor for about 10 years, including overseeing Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society, where I supported student travel, campus projects, and student leadership engagement. I have roughly 10 years of experience working with dual credit student populations specifically. My areas of expertise include student programming, student engagement, student leadership initiatives, leadership of staff, and building student success models for colleges to help retain students and help them persist. I kind of fell into higher education when I was offered an opportunity that started part-time and moved into a full-time position. What ultimately drives me is providing the same great experience that I had in college to future generations of students, as well as working with adult learners who are trying to figure out new skill sets and how to enhance their careers. Working at a college for adult learners really helped me evolve into a higher ed practitioner. My daily work involves collaborating with other leaders internally at the college or externally with local high schools or nonprofit agencies that service high school and college students. It includes managing my team, whether that's putting out a fire or being encouraging and doing professional development with them. It also involves strategizing with other leaders about how to be efficient, have forethought, forecast, and do data analytics. Every day is different, which keeps it exciting.