Professor Danielle Powell has been selected as the Coordinator for African-American Success Through Excellence and Persistence (ASTEP). ASTEP is a Learning Community at Skyline College. Learning Communities (LC) allow students to enroll in a preset group of classes with other students who share the same passions, interests, or specific field of study. Students take classes together and work closely with specific faculty and counselors.
ASTEP assists students of all ethnicities in identifying their abilities, strengths and talents. The program is designed to aid, support and encourage students to fulfill their academic and educational goals of transferring to a four-year college, university, or earning an Associate’s degree or vocational certificate. ASTEP also creates cohorts where students take linked classes such as English, math, communication, and biology with ASTEP professors whose curricula has a common focus on themes from the African-American and African Diaspora experience.
Professor Danielle Powell is a native of North Carolina. She has lived and worked in diverse communities on both coasts of the United States. She earned a B.S. in Speech Communication from James Madison University, an M.A. in Communication and a Master’s of Divinity degree from Wake Forest University. She also earned a graduate certificate in Non-Profit Management from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Professor Powell’s leadership shines through and she will be a great asset to ASTEP. One of Danielle’s greatest joys at Skyline College has been coordinating the Women’s Mentoring and Leadership Academy. The mission of the Skyline College Women’s Mentoring and Leadership Academy (WMLA) is “empowering and transforming women at Skyline College to achieve personal and professional growth.” This mission has been accomplished by providing women from disproportionately impacted groups with social and academic support, mentoring, and leadership development opportunities. WMLA has provided contextualized and experiential learning that has fostered intellectual, cultural, social, economic and personal fulfillment for women who participate in the academy.
We welcome and support Danielle Powell as she prepares to take on her new role as ASTEP Coordinator at Skyline College in fall 2017.
Article by Dr. Tammy Robinson
