PRESS RELEASE: Kerry Howell to Lead Advancement Efforts for Seattle Colleges
April 25, 2019
Kerry Howell has been appointed vice chancellor for advancement for Seattle Colleges. In this executive position, Howell will lead the Seattle Colleges Office of Advancement as it coordinates fundraising and related efforts districtwide to advance the mission of Seattle Colleges. She also will work directly with the Seattle Colleges Foundation, the district’s unified, institutionally related foundation launched in 2018. She will begin her responsibilities on Monday, April 29.
“We are excited to have someone with such a deep breadth of experience and such strong commitment to the community college mission lead our advancement efforts,” said Seattle Colleges Chancellor Shouan Pan. “We continue to work strategically to achieve the best outcomes for students and our local community across the city. I believe Kerry Howell will lend both her expertise and her enthusiasm to ensure progress toward those goals. We are eager for her to join us.”
Howell comes to Seattle Colleges after recent work as a consultant in philanthropy and organizational development for clients in Washington, California, and Hawaii. She has held vice president positions in development, marketing, and communications for organizations including Encore.org in San Francisco, California; North Hawaii Community Hospital in Kamuela, Hawaii; and Keck Graduate Institute (Claremont Colleges) in Claremont, California.
Prior to that Howell served a range of higher education and nonprofit organizations in Seattle including NPower Seattle, Mutual Interest, Groundwire, The Hope Heart Institute, and the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington. She also held advancement roles with Washington State University in Pullman for the College of Education and the College of Engineering and Architecture. Her early career involved experience as a television news producer and reporter in Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with honors, in Communications from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
“I’m thrilled to return home to Seattle and to have the opportunity to champion education by serving a community college system that gave me my start in life,” said Howell. “Seattle Colleges offers distinctive opportunities for students of all kinds to transform their lives. As someone who directly benefited from this system and as a multicultural professional, I am deeply invested in building and supporting a diverse, inclusive culture—at work and within our larger community. Advancing racial and economic justice is essential to my own sense of purpose and well-being. It will be gratifying to do that while serving Seattle Colleges and its students, faculty, and staff.”
Traci Russell, who has served in various roles for Seattle Colleges, including interim associate vice chancellor for advancement, will remain on staff in the Office of Advancement.
About the Seattle Colleges Foundation
The mission of the Seattle Colleges Foundation is to catalyze community support to advance the mission, work, and impact of Seattle Colleges with the vision of transforming lives, promoting equity, and increasing access to quality, affordable education. Learn more at foundation.seattlecolleges.edu.
About Seattle Colleges
Seattle Colleges serves metropolitan Seattle and surrounding communities and is the largest community college district in Washington state. The district includes Seattle Central College on Capitol Hill, North Seattle College near Northgate, and South Seattle College in West Seattle, as well as six specialty training centers across the city: Seattle Vocational Institute and the Wood Technology Center in the Central District, the Health Education Center at Pacific Tower, the Seattle Maritime Academy in Ballard, the Georgetown campus, and NewHolly Learning Center on Beacon Hill. Learn more at seattlecolleges.edu.