Highline’s new interim director for the advising center, Prairie Brown, takes on the new role as a supportive backbone for students to lean on for their career pathways. 

The advising center is in Building 6 and is open on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Students are welcome to come in if they have questions or schedule an appointment on the advising center website, according to Brown. 

“Students should know that they’re always welcome to drop in with quick questions,” she said. “However, if they want to have a detailed conversation with an advisor, they need to schedule an appointment.” 

The advising center helps students in planning for classes and credits you may want to take, Brown said.

“The advising center offers academic planning and support for students in their first 30 credits at Highline,” she said. “We help them learn to use ctcLink and select their first couple of quarters of classes.” 

Brown mentioned that small group discussions about students’ career pathways are also available.

“We help students with their initial exploration of pathways, programs, and degree options, and we often have introductory career guidance conversations with them,” she said. “If students are planning to transfer to other schools following their time at Highline, we also help them take their first steps into exploring how to transfer.”

Prairie Brown has been on the Highline faculty for five years and will now be directing the advising center as the interim director.

According to Brown, helping her students achieve their goals attracted her to take on the position.

“As a member of the faculty, I noticed that many of my students struggled with college navigation, and I built in-class advising into my classes to help ensure my students were prepared to register for classes following mine, and I spent a lot of time during my office hours providing one-on-one academic advising for my students,” she said.

Brown also noted advancing her skills in teaching and directing influenced her decision to take on the obstacle. 

“The role of interim director of the advising center has allowed me to combine my love of academic advising and my administrative skills in a way that I’m finding to be both challenging and rewarding,” she said.

Involvement at the advising center will be one of the main goals this year, Brown mentioned. 

“Our current goals include active participation in the guided pathways initiative, including further collaboration with entry advising, faculty advising, and the career and transfer center as we continue to roll out the four-phase academic advising model,” she said. 

When coming to an advising session it is advised to come prepared with a couple of things, Brown stated. 

“It is helpful if students come to their advising sessions with a list of questions that they want to ask the advisor,” she said. “Students should expect that they will have tasks that they will need to complete following advising appointments, such as contacting professors, researching transfer programs, and completing forms.”

According to Brown, there are also supportive advisors to guide you in your credits and classes throughout your time here at Highline.

“Students should know that they will have multiple advisors during their time at Highline: an entry advisor before they register for classes, a pathway advisor (in the advising center) for their first 30 credits, a faculty advisor from 30-90 credits, and a transfer advisor from 60-90 credits,” she said.

“Academic advising is a collaborative process that involves advisors asking a lot of questions to make sure they’re helping students reach their goals,” Brown said. 

Prairie Brown as the new interim director for the advising center will set a new direction in helping students get to where they want and need to be in their career pathways. 

If you have any questions for Prairie Brown you may contact her via email at pbrown@highline.edu. 

For more information on the advising center, click here: Advising Center. 

For more information on scheduling an in-person or zoom appointment, click here: Advising Center Appointments.