Dr. Timothy “Tim” Stokes has worked in the community college sector since 1995 and has been president of South Puget Sound Community College for 10 years. His work at SPSCC has centered on closing equity gaps in student persistence and completion. He wants to ensure that the diversity among the college’s students reflects the diversity of the community.

Under his guidance, SPSCC opened a Personal Support Center for students in need of help with child care, transportation, housing, food insecurity and mental health issues.

He says one of his goals “is to determine how to move SPSCC and our Washington CTC [Community and Technical College] system forward in our equity work and meeting our students needs.”

Tim has a doctorate in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a master’s in political science and public administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and a bachelor’s from Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas.

Before becoming president of South Puget Sound Community College, he was a board member of the Thurston Economic Development Council, executive vice president for Academic and Student Affairs at Tacoma Community College, vice president for Student Learning at Texas State Technical College, and executive director for the Southwest Arkansas Technology Learning Center at Henderson State University.