BY RACHEL COLEMAN

LIBERAL, Kan.  — Seward County Community College employees Kit Hernandez and Erika Espinoza have been promoted to fill key positions in the college’s department of student affairs. President Brad Bennett announced the creation of two dean-level roles in late May.

“We congratulate Kit Hernandez as Dean of Students, and Erika Espinoza as Dean of Enrollment,” Bennett said. “Both are well-deserved and will continue to provide excellence in the College’s core value of being Student- and Community-Centered.”

Espinoza, who joined SCCC in 2019, initially worked in the TRiO office as a student advisor. She moved to the Admissions department and was promoted to Executive Director of Enrollment Management in May 2023. Over the next two years, the admissions department played a key role in growing SCCC enrollment by 16 percent, year over year, for growth of more than 30 percent in both student head count and credit hours.

A Liberal native and 2016 graduate of Fort Hays State with a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership, Espinoza lives in Liberal with her husband and three sons.
“Having lived in Liberal most of my life, I love the opportunity to give back and help students who, like me, might be the first in their family to go to college,” Espinoza said. “Everyone’s life is different, but education is a factor that can completely change the story.”

Hernandez has been part of the SCCC team since 2021. Having grown up in the small town of Ely, Minn., Hernandez attended the University of Wisconsin – Stout, in Menomonie, Wis., and earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and Property Management in 2014. She previously served as housing director at Williston State College in North Dakota.

Like Espinoza, she worked in the TRiO office as student advisor before taking on the role of Director of Residence Life in 2022. Soon after, she added responsibilities for campus security to her role. Hernandez coordinated major projects for SCCC’s adoption of key-card security across campus, production of student and staff ID cards, and logistics for bringing SCCC housing facilities to full capacity.

“Student affairs bridge all aspects of campus together, I love seeing how student life, accessibility and the overall environment on campus work together for the student as a whole.” she said. “The goal is to help students feel supported, seen, and connected to our campus community.”
“When we look at the needs of our student affairs services across campus, I’m confident Erika and Kit will surpass expectations,” said Bennett. “In fact, we have already seen them do that exact thing in their roles up to now. They are each great examples of the Seward work ethic to do a little better every day, and to put our students first.”