Active Engagement is the Foundation of Effective Leadership

Amber Pleasant, Program Director of Adult Education and English Language Learning, Aims Community College

Amber Pleasant is a community-oriented educator and administrator with over a decade of experience in leading traditional, experimental and online learning programs. Skilled in inclusive, multicultural education and program development, she combines professional training in dispute resolution, international business and education with multilingual communication to empower students and support lifelong learning.

My path to working at Aims was a bit nontraditional for higher education. I first began teaching while finishing an externship for my master’s in dispute resolution. While working for an NGO (non-governmental organization) in Southeast Asia, I was touched by how passionately the people we worked with sought education opportunities and struck by how much I enjoyed teaching. Opportunities continued to arise to partner with education initiatives and experiential education organizations, which further developed my passion for varied approaches to education.

After finishing a contract teaching in South Korea, I returned to the US in early 2020. Teaching positions were difficult to find at that time, and I was fortunate to work with a Nashville-based nonprofit managing adult education services. While I greatly enjoy teaching, it was rewarding to bring empathy and understanding to how I supported other educators, while elevating education initiatives for an entire program of students.

In Nashville, I partnered with both Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University to provide internship opportunities and mentorship to aspiring educators finishing their degrees. It has been incredibly rewarding to continue this supportive work at Aims Community College, and have found the college and community to be incredibly receptive to partnerships that increase the opportunities we provide to students.

Listening, Caring and Strong Teaching Lead

One of the most valuable actions a leader can take is active listening. Creating regular opportunities for students and employees to provide meaningful, timely feedback allows us to be responsive to dynamic community needs and facilitate constructive change management with our instructors and staff. My mentor at the Straus Institute always preached, “The right solution at the wrong time is the wrong solution,” and I carry that with me every day. We must listen and respond to the people we are here to serve.

Our team knows that while we strive for excellence in our program deliveries, we must meet each student where they are. Just yesterday I had a student in my office apologizing for not studying more often. I told the student that they will never hear us say, “Why haven’t you been here?” They will only ever hear us say “I’m so glad you’re here to study today”. Our students are more than just what we see in the classroom, and we have to remember that each student is multifaceted and fighting silent battles just to get to our building for class. The academic rigor we offer comes through our excellent instructors and it is my responsibility to support our instructors with a researched curriculum, and cultivate responsive professional development opportunities that enhance how we support our students holistically.

Responsive Learning Through Student Input

Our two main avenues for student feedback are one-on-one meetings with every student we enroll and soliciting survey responses. We create surveys for class experiences as well as surveys designed to help us craft responsive, of-the-moment programs.

Two unique frameworks we have been developing in our department are multicultural multilingual teams and combining content and language learning through English for specific purpose programs. We strive to prepare our team to serve students by learning their language preferences before our first interaction with them, and crafting a culturally sustaining learning environment that reflects the unique value each student and team member brings to our community.

To create inclusive and impactful language learning programs, be humble and ready to change. Our communities are dynamic and we must be adeptly prepared to modify our practices and programs to continue our relationship with the community.

Change Management