The campus has been abuzz. Perhaps it is the start of a new school year, the new students, returning students, or the new student government. And among the staff, there is buzz about the new president. 

Dr. Amit Singh joined the staff of Edmonds Community College in the 2017-18 Summer Quarter, June 25th to be exact. He was voted in by EdCC Board of Trustees, a six member board that keeps EdCC (as a mass of different programs and branches) accountable to federal statutes and the college’s philosophy. Dr. Singh was chosen after a lengthy search that occurred earlier this year after the resignation of previous president Dr. Jean Hernandez in December of 2017. 

I had the chance to speak to Dr. Singh and learn more about his goals for EdCC and his job in general. The role of the president is no easy feat, and when asked to describe his position in layman terms Dr. Singh said, “It is like being the CEO of a major company. My job is to implement the policies of the Board [of Trustees].” This takes the form in many meetings, countless discussion of policies, and lots of emails. 

Dr. Singh hit the ground running, meeting with many departments in the school and overall learning more about EdCC as a college. In his own words, “Leading means connecting and interacting with people.” And that’s true, what use is a CEO who doesn’t understand their company? He stressed that before one can change anything, “[you] should study the environment around you.” Dr. Singh has some plans for the college but wishes to understand the already established goals that EdCC has been striving towards. His personal belief is to continue the excellent work started and then build on top of that.

Dr. Singh has a great passion for students and studying, and with over 20 years of experience he seems to be an excellent fit for EdCC. He has a long resumé of degrees and has worked in education since 1993. In total, he has worked in six different colleges. He has held several managerial positions at these colleges; the positions he has had range from Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs to an adjunct professor. 

Before working in all these colleges, he was an investment analyst in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Singh graduated from the Management Development Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds four graduate degrees: a Doctorate in Economics, and three different Masters in Finance, Business Administration, and Economics. 

Dr. Singh has three specific things he wants to grant the students, “Access, success, and completion.” The 2010 cohort, graduated 2013, had only a 27 percent completion rate; this is something Dr. Singh wants to change, and he believes the best way to do this is to advise the students first. 

Proper advising early on can change a student’s motivation and ultimately, their career choice. “[EdCC] helps [students] smoothly explore careers with the right tools.” This concept of a “guided pathway” is fundamental to Dr. Singh, and essential—he believes—to student success. 

One way Dr. Singh hopes to increase student success is to establish partnerships with the local communities around EdCC (i.e., the K-12 schools, companies looking to hire, and other institutes). His reasoning behind this is simple, the students of EdCC are often coming from these school and often heading to these workforces and to help make the transitions more accessible, it is essential to maintain connections with these local institutions. 

“These partnerships are critical for our students, and of course it is then critical to us,” Singh said. The students are at EdCC for a couple of years and then go on to somewhere else, and one of the college’s goals is to ensure it’s as simple as possible for the student to accomplish this. “This country has so much potential to offer [students],” says Dr. Singh, explaining that he believes education is the greatest of these. he advises students to “work hard, be sincere.”

Dr. Singh came from a small district in India, where he would often hear the old saying, “the sky’s the limit,” but until he got to the USA, he was unsure he could ever get above the first floor. He made it across that first floor and way beyond it. His dedication to help students find this same success is what makes him a great leader. Welcome to EdCC Dr. Singh!