Salary: $300,000.00 - $320,000.00 Annually
Location : Highline College 2400 S 240th St Des Moines, WA
Job Type: ADMINISTRATIVE
Job Number: 202607
Division: PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
Opening Date: 07/02/2026
Closing Date: Continuous
General Summary
The search is being assisted by DSG Storbeck. To apply, please visit the DSG Global webpage:
Candidate review will begin immediately. To apply for this role, please submit a letter of interest and resume through the Talent Profile. For best consideration, application materials should be submitted by
August 12, 2026. Review of candidates will continue until the position is filled.
Highline College seeks an innovative, collaborative, and mission-driven leader to serve as its next President. As one of the most diverse colleges in the country, Highline College is deeply committed to social justice, student success, and creating equitable pathways that empower students to achieve their educational and professional goals. The President will lead this dynamic institution in advancing a vision of belonging, closing opportunity gaps, and strengthening partnerships that enhance the economic and social vitality of the globally diverse communities it serves. Reporting to the Board of Trustees, the President will provide strategic leadership that advances Highline's commitment to access, learning, community engagement, and organizational excellence while ensuring the long-term sustainability and impact of the College.
ABOUT HIGHLINE COLLEGE
Since 1961, Highline College has been dedicated to serving the community by offering more than 100 program options aligned with the careers most in demand in the region. As the needs of the area have evolved over time, the college's classes and programs have adapted to meet those changing demands. Highline College has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 14 portable classrooms housed on the campus of Glacier High School. Now located on a tree filled 80-acre hilltop overlooking beautiful Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, Highline's location is unrivaled.
The College is located on the ancestral lands of the Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and many other Coast Salish tribes. As such, the college recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples who have lived on and cared for these lands and waters for generations. Learn more about Highline College's
Nationally and internationally recognized as a premier community college, the institution has earned its reputation through a culture that values innovation, globalized curriculum, and community engagement.
Now with over 14,000 students, approximately 1,100 employees (400 full and part-time staff and 700 full and part-time faculty) and more than 350,000 alumni, Highline is one of the state's largest institutions and one of 34 community and technical colleges in the state of Washington.
Highline is also the most diverse higher education institution in the state, with over 70 percent students of color and people representing more than 120 cultures attending classes at the College. Highline today is nationally and internationally recognized as a premiere community college, a reputation earned through the development of an institutional culture that values diversity, innovation, globalization of curriculum and community participation.
In 2025, the Aspen Institute named Highline College as one of the 200 institutions eligible to compete for the $1 million 2027 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation's premier recognition of high achievement and performance among two-year colleges. In addition, in 2023 and 2017, the Aspen Institution named Highline College one of the nation's top 150 community colleges.
The College offers a wide range of academic transfer, professional-technical and pre-college programs, with day, evening, weekend, and online classes. Along with its comprehensive community college programs, Highline has recently added applied bachelor's degrees, giving its community members even more ways to meet their educational needs close to home.
Highline graduates include those who are widely recognized for achievement in their various fields:
• Norm Rice, former mayor of Seattle • Ann Rule, author • Alexis Denisof, actor • Dr. Michael Hutchins, zoologist • Brian Scalabrine, former NBA player and current NBA television analyst • Joan Enticknap, banking executive • Dr. T.M. Sell, author, award-winning journalist and Northwest playwright • Joan DuBuque, retired King County Superior Court Judge • Junki Yoshida, CEO of The Yoshida Group • Sam Green, former Washington State Poet Laureate
Highline's success and the growth demonstrates community and technical colleges are a proven way of providing education and training to support states' economies and enrich people's lives.
LOCATION
Highline's main campus is located 20 minutes south of downtown Seattle. Perched on a hill in Des Moines, Washington, midway between Seattle and Tacoma, the main campus overlooks the beautiful Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains. Classes are also offered at r, the at Redondo Beach and locations throughout the community.
, offers waterfront parks, top-notch restaurants, and a quaint small town feel-all just 30 minutes south of downtown Seattle and 15 minutes from SEA Airport.
HIGHLINE COLLEGE TODAY
Highline College stands at a pivotal and exciting moment in its history. The institution is engaged in a comprehensive transformation designed to strengthen student success, advance equity, and position the college for long-term sustainability and impact. Highline is reimagining how it serves its diverse communities through intentional, institution-wide change.
The College is deep in several interconnected initiatives that are reshaping its future, including the implementation of an innovative Guided Pathways framework, governance restructuring efforts, equity-centered institutional transformation, and the modernization of data systems and decision-making processes. These initiatives are not discrete projects but part of a broader strategy to create anti-racist, equitable pathways that close opportunity gaps, strengthen organizational capacity, and ensure every student experiences a sense of belonging and support.
Highline's transformation is grounded in a commitment to evidence-based decision making and continuous improvement. The institution is investing in modern data infrastructure and a culture of assessment that promotes transparency, accountability, and the effective use of information to improve student outcomes and institutional effectiveness. Through these efforts, the College seeks to align resources, systems, and practices with its strategic priorities of increasing access, improving learning and completion outcomes, deepening community partnerships, and building an inclusive organizational culture.
The next president will inherit an institution with significant momentum and a community eager to continue this important work. The successful candidate will embrace and accelerate these transformational efforts by leading with courage, inclusivity, and strategic vision, building trust across the campus community, and ensuring that Highline's commitment to equity and student success translates into measurable and enduring impact. The president will have a unique opportunity to guide a college that is not merely adapting to change, but intentionally redefining what an equitable, student-centered college can be.
ACCREDITATION
Highline College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the Secretary of the United States Department of Education.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
The Board of Trustees is a five-member board that is appointed by the Governor of the State of Washington and confirmed by the Washington State Senate. The role of the Board is to oversee all operations of the College. On behalf of the people of the state of Washington, the five-member Board of Trustees governs Highline College by providing strategic perspective and definitive leadership in determining the programs to be provided by the College and by specifying the guiding policies and principles the President will use in operating the College.
MISSION
As a South King County college striving for social justice, Highline College partners with global students as they envision, plan and achieve their educational and professional goals.
VISION
Highline College creates anti-racist, equitable pathways in higher education to close opportunity gaps experienced by our students. We support employees to foster the conditions for student and workplace equity. We accept people as they are and honor the life experience they bring. We are cultivating a collaborative learning community that centers the well-being of the whole person and provides a sense of belonging. We highly regard the families and support systems that enable our success and acknowledge that by working together we are limitless.
VALUES
Highline College seeks to live out these values in everyday practice: Accessibility, Accountability, Cultural Responsiveness and Agency, Environmental Sustainability, Equity-First Focus, Life Long Learning, Partnership with local and global communities, Respect, Social Justice, Student Centered Approaches and Transparency.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, and ACCESS
No matter who students are or where they come from, they are welcome at Highline College. As one of the most diverse colleges in the United States, Highline prioritizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all students, faculty, and staff, as evidenced through its Mission, Vision, and Values and its unwavering commitment to educational equity and social justice.
Students come to Highline with unique personal experiences, beliefs, identities, and perspectives. Representing more than 100 countries and speaking more than 120 languages, Highline's vibrant and globally diverse community is one of the institution's defining strengths. The College celebrates this richness and intentionally creates an environment where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.
Highline has earned national recognition for its commitment to student success and equity, including multiple recognitions from the Aspen Institute as one of the nation's top community colleges. The College is also a statewide leader in Guided Pathways implementation and equity-centered institutional transformation, continuously redesigning systems and practices to eliminate barriers and improve outcomes for historically underserved students.
As a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution and an institution advancing an emerging HSI strategy, Highline is intentionally building on its strengths in serving immigrant, refugee, and multilingual communities. The College's globalized curriculum, culturally responsive practices, and deep community partnerships create transformative educational experiences that prepare students to thrive in an interconnected world.
Highline's commitment to diversity and inclusion extends beyond representation, it is embedded in the institution's culture, strategic priorities, and decision-making. The College is dedicated to fostering a sense of belonging for all members of its community and to ensuring that every student, regardless of background or circumstance, has equitable opportunities to achieve their educational and professional goals and contribute meaningfully to the communities they serve.
STRATEGIC PLAN
The Strategic Plan for Equitable Student Success is a living document that guides the development of annual work plans. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year, the College adopted a set of strategic goals and objectives to guide the College in accomplishing its mission.
Aligned with Highline College Mission, Vision and Values, four broad goals anchor the for Equitable Student Success to focus actions are:
Access - Increase equitable and representative access to postsecondary educational and career opportunities that lead to social and economic mobility in Highline's service area.
Learning - Increase equitable learning, retention, completion and transfer rates, and improve labor market outcomes using evidence-based innovation and high-impact practices in and out of the classroom.
Community - Increase breadth and depth of partnerships with K-12, other postsecondary institutions, community-based organizations, employers and government that align with Highline's strategic priorities and contribute to economic and social vibrancy of communities it serves.
Culture & Capacity - Become an anti-racist college through intentional development of employees, facilities, and systems that support student success and close equity gaps.
DEGREE PATHWAYS
"Guided Pathways is an integrated framework that supports institutional transformation with student success at the center based upon a structured experience, as articulated in Guided Pathways builds institutional capacity to define clear and coherent pathways for degree completion and to ensure learning while on the pathways, leading to completion of a postsecondary degree or credential." (
The Guided Pathways framework focuses on addressing key momentum areas including:
- Alignment of learning outcomes to labor market and junior level (major ready) competencies for transfer
- Excellent anti-racist, equity-minded pedagogy
- Clear pathways to achieve those outcomes- students know what classes to take when
- Excellent intake and on-boarding processes- fostering a deep sense of belonging for each student • Informed choices- how students choose a pathway and program
- Holistic supports- how students are supported to stay on a pathway to completion
- This requires challenging assumptions and long standing beliefs, practices, and policies, and is an adaptive, transformative institution-wide change process taking place at the colleges.
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