Wanda I. Reyes-Dawes is passionate educator for over three decades. Her educational experiences include K-12 system (15 years) in various administrative capacities, for-profit educational school, and higher education (community college for approximately 15 years). Ms. Reyes-Dawes is a staunch advocate for students reaching their academic and career goals. So much so, that she is looked upon as the “advising guru” at her institution and at the Board of Regents level. She is a member of the system-wide Advising Leads Council representing her institution, as well as the Maps/Plans Working Group. Both bodies are working towards massive changes to the current structures regarding advising and equipping students with the appropriate tools at the very beginning of their educational journeys. She has been the director of the former Advising & Counseling Center, which was reorganized several years ago. In that role, she supervised 15 diverse professionals at different classifications and consistently advocated for her staff and most important, students served.

Ms. Reyes-Dawes is a proud graduate of the National Community College Hispanic Council’s (NCCHC) Fellows Program, Class of 2011 and the HERS Wellesley Institute for Executive Women in Higher Education, Class of 2012. Ms. Reyes-Dawes is consistently seeking to enhance her knowledge/skills and to share it with those she inspires the most, her students.

Beyond the aforementioned, Ms. Reyes-Dawes is planning to return to her doctoral program at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in the fall of 2019 as a part-time student. Her focus is on academic advising and its impact the retention of first-generation, Latino/a students in a community college. She is looking forward to contributing to the scholarly research in this topic area.

Ms. Reyes-Dawes is known for her kind spirit and her willingness to give back by serving as a mentor to many young ladies throughout her institution, community, and various programs throughout the country.