urbancny.com interviewed Dr. Warren Hilton, discussing challenges and opportunities facing Community Colleges
Recently, Syracuse and Onondaga County welcomed Dr. Warren Hilton as Onondaga Community College’s ninth President. Previous to OCC, Dr. Hilton served as the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Kutztown University. In this role he lead enrollment and student affairs efforts designed to increase new student enrollment and retention. Prior to Kutztown University, Warren was the Dean of Enrollment Management at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP). At CCP he oversaw admissions, financial aid, records and registration, enrollment technology, veteran’s resources, international student services, and the welcome center. Prior to CCP, he was the Associate Dean for Student and External Affairs, and Assistant Professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health. At Drexel, he managed enrollment management, academic advising, student affairs, marketing, and public relations. In addition, Warren served as a faculty member in the School of Public Health and the School of Education at Drexel University. He also co-directed the Opening Doors Health Disparities Research Training Program (a NIH grant funded (R25) program) at Drexel University.
Additionally, Warren worked at various higher education institutions including University of Maryland-College Park, Johns Hopkins University, Stevenson University, and Moravian College. In addition to his teaching experience at Drexel University, Dr. Hilton has taught undergraduate courses at Moravian College and University of Maryland-College Park. His corporate experience includes working at Johnson and Johnson, DuPont, and Coretech Consulting. Warren currently serves as the board chair of HealthSpark Foundation. Dr. Hilton previously served on the board of the Lehigh Valley Red Cross and as a member of the Minsi Trail Boy Scouts Urban Scouting initiative. A thought leader and sought-after speaker related to student success, enrollment management, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), he has authored numerous publications and presented at national and regional conferences. Dr. Hilton serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, and the Journal of Career Development; and has secured multiple major grants and large donations.
Dr. Hilton earned his Doctor of Education from Drexel University and his Master of Arts in Student Affairs in Higher Education and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
What do you see as challenges facing higher education, especially community colleges?
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urbancny.com: What do you see as challenges facing higher education, especially community colleges?
Dr. Hilton: Thank you, Ken, for having me. I think you know the biggest challenges that community colleges are facing and higher education institutions in general, has to deal with enrollment, right? You know the plans of individuals have to achieve their dreams can be achieved in multiple ways. And in higher education especially in community colleges; we have to find ways to offer programs to help individuals who want to achieve their goals, to take care of their family, meet their complex challenges. And I think that’s going to be critically important for us here at Onondaga Community College. That was work that was started well before I got here.
You’ll notice that we’ve created some new academic programs that would be appealing to individuals. Our home health aide certificate is a three-week program, our CNA is a five-week program. These are short term programs where individuals can come in get the education they need, get the certification, go out and be gainfully employed in the workforce. And they meet the challenges that people have.
You know some people can’t go to college for four years. So, we have that opportunity to provide those flexible short term degree programs and certificate programs that will help individuals and thus help us with our enrollment. I think the other thing that many people in community colleges are talking about is how do we help individuals in the community deal with the barriers that exist.
So, transportation, healthcare, childcare, all of those things, and certainly here at OCC we’re doing that. We have a childcare center right here on campus that is subsidized, so our students pay very little for childcare. And when you think about that, if you’re a single mother for example, or a single father for example and you have two kids and you want to go to college. The barrier there is, who’s going to take care of the kids while I’m off in class? Here we’re helping to solve those challenges for families and for individuals.
So, those are some of the biggest challenges. And I can’t understate the support from the governor, the legislators, it’s critically important. Certainly, Governor Hochul’s implementation of part time TAP is a wonderful thing. Because again, thinking about that individual in the community who can’t take a full-time load 12 or 15 credits. Now if they want to take 6 credits or 9 credits which is the equivalent of two classes or three classes at a time, they have access to state grant aid which is really wonderful.
How would you address declining enrollment since it’s happening across the board what are your reflections on that?
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urbancny.com: How would you address declining enrollment since it’s happening across the board what are your reflections on that?
Dr. Hilton: As I said it’s really about going out talking to folks in the community, talking to people of business and industry is is what we’re doing and what we have been doing. And matching the needs for the people who are hiring, to the people who want to be hired.
You know I talked about home health aide; the statistic is staggering. almost 75% of seniors and or people with disabilities in New York State who need a home health aide, cannot find one. So that is an opportunity where we are saying to the employer population. What do you need? And we are now providing the education to train those workers in a short-term fashion. Who wouldn’t want to take three weeks of their lives, learn the skill, get some education and then be able to be gainfully employed making a decent salary with benefits so that you can take care of your family?
That’s a way that we’re going to be really tackling, that enrollment challenge. Matching the need for those who are hiring, to the needs of those who want jobs. And we have more programs that will be coming along.
I talked about the Certified Nursing Assistant Program; we’re going to be doubling capacity in our Surgical Technology Program. To go along with our Automotive Tech Certificate; we’re going to be developing a Diesel Technology Certificate. That’s another area where if somebody who likes to work with their hands and wants to be a mechanic, you get that type of training. You get hired automatically because there’s just not enough people.
So that’s what we’re doing, come to OCC, get involved; get the training you need in some of these programs and then you’re going to be able to be gainfully employed. Have the healthcare benefits; those type of things to be able to take care of yourself and take care of your family.
What do you see as challenges for the college moving forward?
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urbancny.com: What do you see as challenges for the college moving forward?
Dr. Hilton: That’s a good question you know. I think I won’t call it a challenge I call it an opportunity. We have an opportunity to be a trusted partner in the community. We want to work more with other higher education institutions. Our K through twelve partners; we just had the summer school students here all summer from Syracuse city on campus finishing their diplomas. And we hosted their graduation. So, we want to be that trusted partner, because when we come into the community, we’re not coming into the community saying, ‘here’s what you need’. We’re coming into community saying, “how can we help”. What is it that you want us to do to help out the community and then we’ll partner, so that those individuals can, as I said earlier, get the education, the training they need, go out and be gainfully employed, we’re doing that in multiple ways.
Like I said, short term certificates; we have two-year degrees, we have our Small Business Development Center here on campus. So those people in the community, particularly our black and brown communities that are saying, “I want to be an entrepreneur”, who sometimes are left out of the opportunities. They can come here to OCC work with our Small Business Development Center, get the assistance they need to start that small business and be successful.
So, there’s going to be more to come. Certainly, we’re thinking about the opportunity that exists with Cannabis Education and working with individuals from all communities. But certainly, providing cannabis education that’s going to lead to a good job. And doing it in a way where black and brown communities can benefit from it, is also something that is at the forefront of what we’re planning to do.
