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Southwest taps Dr. Carol Ash as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Workforce Development

By Diana Fedinec

Dr. Carol AshDr. Carol Ash will become Southwest’s new Vice President of Academic Affairs and Workforce Development effective June 26, 2023. 
 
“I am thrilled to have Dr. Ash on board to lead our academic affairs division,” Southwest Tennessee Community College President Tracy D. Hall said. “Dr. Ash’s experience and leadership in academe and in business and industry is exactly what the College needs as we solidify our role as the workforce solutions center of Memphis and the Mid-South.”
 
Ash has more than 15 years of senior leadership experience in higher education. Since January 2020, she served as the Dean of the School of Health, Wellness, and Public Safety at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Before being promoted to Dean, she served as Associate Dean from 2016 to 2019. Among her many accomplishments at the college were creating the School of Nursing and Patient Support, successfully guiding faculty and staff through several programmatic accreditation efforts, launching a New Mexico Department of Public Safety accredited law enforcement academy and implementing credit for prior learning pathways.

Ash also worked as part-time faculty and then as Director of the Media and Visual Communications programs at Kennedy-King College in Chicago, Illinois, from 2008 to 2016 where she was responsible for managing and daily operations of each academic program’s efforts. As an adjunct professor, she launched the Emmy Award-winning “KKC Views” student news program.
 
“I am excited to join Dr. Hall and the exceptional team at Southwest to continue building upon the College’s robust foundation of academic excellence,” Ash said. “Southwest’s demonstrated commitment to student success through education, training, and workforce readiness is exemplary. I look forward to being part of the trailblazing initiatives in the Mid-South that focus on upward mobility for students, their families, and our community.”

Preceding her full-time commitment to higher education, Ash spent almost 20 years working as an award-wining broadcast journalist and news producer at several metro area television stations. Her notable media achievements include executing the 2010 Emmy Award-nominated “Color of Aids” campaign, launching the WMAQ-TV NBC-5 News at noon, coordinating the NBC News 2011 and 2012 “Education Nation” initiative in Chicago, and spearheading the NBC News/Kellogg Foundation’s 2010 “Finishing the Dream: Learning from the Civil Rights Era” initiative. She also received the National Association of Black Journalists Presidential Award, Chicago Defender Women of Excellence Award, Chicago United National Communications Award and NBC Universal Inclusion Award.

Ash earned a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in higher education and organizational change from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois; a Master of Science in integrated marketing communications from Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois; and a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication and media arts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Among her training and memberships, she is a graduate of the Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Fellowship, a 2020-2021 Association for Career and Technical Education National Postsecondary Leadership Success Program Fellow, a member of the American Association of Women in Community Colleges, and a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Journalists and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She is the CEO of Carol Ash and Associates since 2012.

Welcome to the Saluqi family, Dr. Ash!