Dr. Stacy Welcome, Dean of Pupil Success at Houston Neighborhood Faculty (HCC), says her ardour for aiding HCC college students in reaching tutorial feats fuels her work.
She oversees the Pupil Providers division and helps college students cope with challenges like homelessness and meals insecurity, safe jobs and pursue greater training.
The Houston native accomplished her undergraduate research in Psychology from Texas Southern College, grasp’s in Counseling from Prairie View A&M College and doctorate in Counseling Research from Capella College.
Welcome started her journey at HCC in 2003 as a part-time counselor and has advanced during the last 20 years serving in a number of roles: advising supervisor, affiliate dean and adjunct professor.
From the start, her mission was clear—to “impression the lots” and dwell in her “servant spirit.”
“ I thrive off of seeing individuals accomplish their targets and that they are often profitable,” she mentioned.
A profession constructed on ardour
Welcome says her academic background in counseling helps in her profession right this moment as she tries to assist first-generation and worldwide college students. She believes that studying a few pupil’s objective is vital to serving to the coed discover success.
Some college students battle extra limitations, together with monetary struggles, homelessness and meals insecurity. To fight these points, Welcome mentioned HCC forges strategic partnerships with native organizations like Star of Hope, the YMCA and the Houston Meals Financial institution.
The school has established Eagle Markets, on-campus meals pantries the place college students, employees and school members can entry groceries and meals gadgets.
“When you’ll be able to carry all these entities collectively, it actually offers the scholars the chance to have the ability to meet their final objective, which is profession or academic success,” Welcome mentioned.
Nevertheless, Welcome can also be conscious of avoiding assumptions.
“I don’t need to assume that simply since you are from perhaps a low-income background, you might have a necessity or that you’ve a deficit…Simply because your zip code identifies you, I’m not going to profile you,” she mentioned. “We do it in a discreet means with dignity.”
Welcome can also be liable for bridging the hole between training and employment. She works to strengthen partnerships with native organizations to create internship and full-time employment alternatives for HCC college students.
For these pursuing greater training, the HCC Switch Middle connects college students with universities just like the College of Houston and Texas Southern College, who typically go to the campus waiving utility charges and offering on-the-spot admissions. College of St. Thomas and Houston Christian College have additionally gained traction amongst college students lately, Welcome added.
Dedication to DEI regardless of backlash
Of 88,297 college students, HCC’s present pupil demographics comprise 38.9% Hispanic, 25.9% Black, 12.8% Asian, 12.9% white and 9.5% college students of different races and ethnicities. It additionally has a major worldwide pupil inhabitants of three,610 college students.
“Houston is a multicultural metropolis and that comes with many advantages, we’ve got numerous communities,” mentioned Donald Sparks, HCC Central Communications Director. “These [HCC] college students carry their numerous ideas, backgrounds, and experiences within the classroom.”
Nevertheless, with latest challenges to Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) insurance policies in greater training, Welcome acknowledges that the long run stays unsure.
“Our federal legal guidelines and our state legal guidelines and our insurance policies, I’m going to stick to that as a result of I’m certain to try this,” she mentioned. “It’s simply not gender, shade or ethnicity…My mission is about advancing individuals who have a necessity. I need to see individuals have a skillset, that they can’t solely maintain themselves however their households as a result of that solely helps our neighborhood thrive. That’s gonna decrease the crime charge, the homelessness.”
Welcome mentioned that she’s going to take each alternative to assist college students whereas following pointers.
“We’re gonna battle. Whenever you nonetheless have individuals with a like thoughts and the identical mission, no sort of rollback is gonna take away from that,” she mentioned.Her message to college students is to search out their life’s objective, whether or not it’s working in a household enterprise, as a chef, or within the HVAC and building industries. HCC at the moment has a variety of non-traditional applications, together with Automotive Expertise, Air Conditioning Technician, Culinary Arts, Digital Gaming & Simulation, Trend Design and Cosmetology.
