College Leadership

Dr. Jack Kahn joined Shoreline Community College on July 1, 2022.

With over 25 years of experience in higher education, including more than a decade in leadership roles, Dr. Kahn often shares his career goal of “bringing diverse people together to create systems that are integrated with the broader community to serve students, particularly with a lens toward equity.”

Before arriving at Shoreline Community College, Dr. Kahn’s most recent leadership roles were at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. Here he served as an interim superintendent president, the assistant superintendent/vice president for instruction and the dean of the division of social and behavioral sciences. Prior to his work in academic leadership, Dr. Kahn was an active faculty member and published researcher and author of works addressing issues of psychological testing, masculinity, and social justice.

The first person in his family to pursue a four-year college degree, Dr. Kahn earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy from Arizona State University. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in marriage and family counseling from San José State University before attending the State University of New York at Buffalo to earn a doctorate in counseling psychology.

In his spare time, Dr. Kahn enjoys seeing live music and theater, traveling, exploring new neighborhoods, trying new restaurants, hiking, reading, gardening, cooking, and spending time with his wife Jackie, two dogs, and cat.

Diana Dotter is a high-performing business strategist with two decades of leadership experience in both nonprofit and for-profit sectors that specializes in identifying market opportunities, driving strategic and creative vision, creating strategic partnerships across multiple industry sectors, designing executable strategic plans, and driving activity to achieve results. Diana provides strategic leadership to public and private sector organizations in higher education, the creative economy, and digital media and entertainment sectors.

Diana joined Shoreline in 2020 to complete a $48.3 million capital campaign to build a new Health, Science & Advanced Manufacturing Classroom Complex and lead the Shoreline Community College Foundation. In her new role of Associate Vice President for Advancement, Communications & Marketing and Executive Director of the Foundation, she serves as the College’s chief development, marketing, and communications officer, playing an integral role in the executive leadership of the College and supporting its mission to serve the educational, workforce, and cultural needs of diverse students and communities.

Dr. Ann Garnsey-Harter provides strategic leadership for two major areas of campus:  Learning Resources and Institutional Effectiveness.  Learning Resources includes the following departments: Classroom Support Services, Continuing Education, eLearning Services, Faculty Professional Development, Library, Rentals/Events, and the Student Learning Center. Institutional Effectiveness includes the department of Institutional Assessment and Data Management, which leads academic operations and instructional support; curriculum management and class scheduling; grant development; institutional assessment and program review; research, reporting, and data management; and ctcLink systems user analysis and support. Ann also is co-lead on the Shoreline Pathways (aka Meta Majors) portion of the Guided Pathways project, in addition to serving on the College’s collective bargaining team.

She has been a higher education administrator for over 20 years. Her professional experience is grounded in her experience teaching college English part-time in all delivery modes (online, hybrid, and face-to-face). She holds a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy in English from Washington State University.

Personally, she loves the outdoors and can be found hiking, backpacking, camping, and kayaking with her husband and two boys.

Phillip King assumed duties as the Vice President for Student Learning, Equity and Success at Shoreline Community College in 2019. Phillip has oversight into all instructional, workforce, and student services programs. Phillip’s educational background includes community college leadership, communication studies, and psychology.

Phillip’s focus of research and work are on transfer student success, gendered forms of communication in the academic environment, male community college student success, and equity practices that elevate access for all students that are marginalized. His connection to this work is evident in his research orientation – men just aren’t showing up in colleges at the same number as in previous years.

Outside the office he volunteers with local LGBTQ+ groups, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and local agencies for pet adoption. He has a passion for science fiction reading, non-fiction reading in science education and the human genome, and home improvement projects. Lastly, you might find him in the pool each morning training for whatever master’s swim meet is coming, rowing on Lake Washington or the Sound, and finding hiking options for him and his recent rescue, Schooner.

Samira Pardanani is the new Associate Vice President of Student Services and International Education charged with providing leadership to programs integral to the student experience at the College.

In her previous role as Executive Director of Shoreline’s dynamic International Education department, she led a high-functioning and innovative team whose work placed the College among the country’s top 20 community colleges hosting international students. The College has been featured in multiple national publications for best practices in enrollment management, student services, and campus internationalization. As a leader in the field, Samira has served as a frequent presenter and as an advocate for community colleges. 

Samira is excited to dive into the work of serving all Shoreline students, working with campus stakeholders to pursue opportunities to enhance the student experience, with a special focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reducing opportunity gaps. She is skilled at identifying individual strengths of staff and facilitating increased ownership and engagement in their work.

Samira holds master’s degrees in German and TESOL, and has been educated in India, Germany, Austria, and the U.S. She speaks multiple languages and wholeheartedly embraces the value that diverse life experiences bring to the table. She spends her free time with her family and friends, enjoying good food and laughter, and also loves to dabble in different hobbies.

Gavin Smith has been acting Director of Technology Support Services since January 2020. He was hired at the college as an application developer in 2004 and worked in that capacity for 16 years. Prior to that, he ran a software and networking business for 15 years.

The software Gavin previously developed for the college includes Student Email, Class Schedule, MCO, Campus Directory, and the Budget Planning System, among others.

Gavin also created the software and systems that connect the college to third party services such a RAVE Alerts, Nelnet, and Cashnet, and implemented third party software such as TLR and FMS Query.

Bob Williamson joined Shoreline Community College as Acting Vice President for Business and Administrative Services on September 7, 2021. With 12 years' experience at Clark College as Vice President of Administrative Services and as Special Projects Administrator reporting directly to the president, Bob brings extensive knowledge of college administration to Shoreline.

Prior to higher education, Bob served as Deputy Director of Clark County Public Health and Executive Director of Educational Opportunities for Children and Families (EOCF), a non-profit agency that provides Head Start, Early Head Start, ECEAP, and similar programs to more than 2,000 low-income children and families in southwest Washington.

Bob will be working primarily in a remote capacity from his home in Vancouver (WA, not BC) but plans to be on campus a few days each month. He is excited to be part of the Shoreline team.

Veronica Zura has served the College in the Office of Human Resources since August 2004 with direct experience in each of the individual positions staffed in HR. Ms. Zura holds a Bachelors’ degree in Psychology from Western Washington University, with a minor in Internet Resource & Creation. Ms. Zura obtained her Professional in Human Resources certification in February 2011, the ATIXA Title IX Level 1 Certification in June of 2016, and the OSU Search Advocate certification in November 2018.

Ms. Zura provides executive leadership to campus in the areas of employee relations, compensation, benefits, recruitment/selection, and collective bargaining/labor relations. During her free time, Ms. Zura enjoys movies, puzzling, and cribbage.