From the Student Services VP: New leaders support guided pathways

I am pleased to announce the appointment of four new leadership positions within Student Services. These positions are key to our guided pathways implementation and will enable the college to provide student support that is more holistic, proactive, and focused.

The following executive dean of counseling and regional campus executive deans will report to me. They will be based at Highland Business Center but will have a consistent and regular presence in the region/areas they lead.

The new executive deans will work with me to develop and implement a plan for naming their successors. Current deans likely will fill the vacancies at Highland and Cypress Creek campuses. I will be selecting assistant deans at Elgin, South Austin, Pinnacle, and Elgin campuses and will send an announcement soon explaining the hiring process.

These positions are key to our guided pathways implementation and will enable the college to provide student support that is more holistic, proactive, and focused.

Sylvia Galvan Gonzalez is executive dean of counseling. Sylvia has been dean of students at ACC’s Elgin Campus since it opened in 2013 and previously served as counseling faculty and interim dean at Cypress Creek Campus. As dean of counseling, Sylvia maintains lead responsibility for the districtwide CARES program. For the past year she has led the college’s prevention programming efforts related to regulatory programs and has served as liaison to the Student Services Counseling Unit.

Sylvia has more than 15 years of higher education experience at community colleges and universities and clinical experience working with diverse populations in multiple settings. She acquired case analyses/research experience while working with the Crime Investigation Division of the San Antonio Police Department.

Sylvia earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University. As part of her graduate clinical studies and certification, she traveled abroad to provide psychological services for Spanish-speaking populations. She currently is working on a Veterans Behavioral Health certification from the Department of Defense Center for Deployment Psychology and the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. She recently was invited to co-author an article for the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association and the Student Affairs Community College Association. Sylvia is a national certified counselor and a state-licensed professional counselor with a supervisor designation.

Amber Kelley is executive dean of the north region campuses (Cypress Creek, Northridge, Round Rock, and Elgin). Amber has more than 30 years of professional experience, including 25 years at ACC. She has served as student services dean and worked in Student Accessibility Services, the Support Center, and Counseling. Amber has a proven ability to apply information and technology in creative ways to bridge gaps and improve services. Her ACC projects include the initiative that was the foundation for the CARES program, QLess, Campus2Careers, eIntake, ACC’s 40th Anniversary Career & Job Expo, ACChieve, and the first data-tracking system for Student Accessibility Services. She serves as Student Services lead for Career Services and was honored with the ACC Leadership award. Before coming to ACC she developed pilot and demonstration programs for the State of Texas focusing on adults with disabilities transitioning from high school to college, employment, and community integrated living.

Amber’s educational background includes doctoral studies in clinical psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology at Walden University, a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling from the UT Austin, and bachelor’s degrees in special education and secondary vocational education from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Dorado M. Kinney is executive dean of ACC’s central region campuses (Highland, Eastview, and Rio Grande). He has been student services dean at Highland Campus since the campus opened in 2014. He also served as Eastview Campus student services dean. Dorado has more than 20 years of experience as a student affairs administrator at two-year and four year institutions. He has worked in Greek life, multicultural student affairs, new student orientation, student judicial affairs, and student athlete support services. At ACC, Dorado has led multiple districtwide initiatives. He led early efforts to transition from paper advising documents to electronic forms. He has led the development of student disciplinary policies and the implementation of a districtwide system to track and monitor disciplinary cases.

As Highland Campus dean, he led the transition of business testing to student services. He also provides leadership for initiatives relating to college readiness and academic testing.

Dorado is a doctoral candidate at University of Texas at Austin and expects to complete his degree in higher education leadership by December. He holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Denver, a master’s degree in higher education from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Columbia University.

Dr. R. Wade Bradfute is executive dean of the south region (Pinnacle, Hays, Riverside, and South Austin). He currently is Pinnacle Campus dean of student services. He also serves as chair of the Shared Governance Review Council, lead for the Educause/Gates Foundation iPASS II grant, and project director for the Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program Title III grant. He previously served as interim vice president of student services, Northridge Campus dean of student services, and counselor at South Austin Campus. He also taught Transition to College for students in developmental mathematics.

Wade’s previous leadership roles include counseling department chair, advising process holder, Student Services CE liaison. He served as a member of the Career Committee, Curriculum and Programs Committee, Men of Distinction Committee, and Transfer Committee. Wade’s community involvement includes membership in the Oak Hill Business and Professional Association, Travis County Model Court Disproportionality Committee, and vice president/treasurer of Education Reach for Texans.

Wade holds an associate degree from Southwest Texas Junior College, a bachelor’s degree in natural gas engineering from Texas A&M Kingsville, a master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Texas State University, and a doctorate in counselor education and supervision from Regent University.

I look forward to working with these outstanding leaders as we take our commitment to supporting our students to a new level.

~ Virginia

Tags:

Back to Top

8 Responses to "From the Student Services VP: New leaders support guided pathways"