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versity’s campus in Scranton. As a member of the school’s senior administrative leadership team, she was engaged in strategic planning, policy development, and problem solving.
She said that she gravitated toward work in student services (she also teaches) because of its importance to the success of not only students but the institution in question. Summing it up, she said such work falls into the realm of student success and making sure they can get on — and stay on — a path to achieving their goals, what- ever they may be.
“It’s about ensuring that their housing and food and social integration and mental health and physical health are all taken into account as it relates to their journey,” she explained, “because all of those things play a factor in their academic success.
“If they’re stressed about some sort of insecu- rity or some issue related to childcare or trans- portation, it’s really difficult to focus on calculus,” she went on. “That’s where student affairs and student services come in — to educate the entire student.”
When asked what she liked about this aspect of higher education, she said there are many rewards that come with it, especially those derived from helping students clear some of the many hurdles to success.
“I love that we’re able to help each and every student achieve their goals, and that we are look- ing at them as individuals, as humans, and not another person in a seat, and that we’re educating the whole person.”
Looking to take her career in higher educa- tion to a higher plane, Schutt looked at several job opportunities, but eventually focused on the pres-
idency at GCC because of what she considered a very solid match.
Compatibility was revealed the initial inter- view, conducted via Zoom, and then reinforced at a day-long, in-person session, during which she met and took questions from several constituen- cies, including faculty, staff, students, and other stakeholders.
“I love that we’re able to help each and every student achieve their goals, and that we are looking at them as individuals, as humans, and not another person in a seat, and that we’re educating the whole person.”
“There is a shared set of values that focuses on students and recognizes the importance of com- munity integration for a community college,” she said when asked what she came away with from that day’s experiences.
“When I came to campus, it was validating to meet people who truly care about students,” she went on. “And that was conveyed in every group that I met with; that was conveyed by the stu- dents — that they felt they were cared for. And those things are really important to me; you can’t make that up. And the end of the day, if you don’t
care about students, the students know that.”
School of Thought
As noted, Schutt will bring a deep focus on the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion to her new role, noting that, while she has always had an appreciation for these matters, it reached a new and much higher level through her experi- ences teaching English and social justice.
“I was teaching in the evening, when we had the greatest diversity of students,” she explained. “And to understand the general college-student experience was really eye-opening to me and made me a better administrator.
“That’s because, as a vice president, you see the highly successful students, or the students who were in great despair, who may not persist no matter how we helped them,” she went on. “To see the 40-year-old mom coming back to school, the 16-year-old dual-credit student, the student with limited English acquisition, the working dad ... all those people coming together in one class really opened my eyes to the immense diversity in who we educate in community college.”
At CSI, Schutt said, it became a priority for the school to become a Hispanic Serving Institution, and the many steps taken to achieve that status became learning experiences on many levels. And, ultimately, they helped enable the school to better serve all its students.
“We worked really hard to make sure we were understanding the Hispanic student experience and that we were ensuring equitable outcomes and inclusionary practices,” she explained. “There were always crit-
       ics who would say,
‘you’re focused on GCC
 Continued on page 42
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