UNION COUNTY — With more than a decade of community college experience in student services, Helen Castellanos Brewer is a welcome addition to Union County College.
During the Jan. 28 Board of Trustees meeting, the College approved Brewer as the new Vice President of Student Development. She will join UCC on Feb. 10 and manage the staff responsible for designing, maintaining, and improving the quality of professional support services for the College’s 12,000 students. The specific departments she will oversee are Counseling, the Educational Opportunity Fund, Financial Aid, Recruitment, and College Life, which includes athletics and student clubs.
Brewer began her tenure in higher education 15 years ago and has worked in student affairs at both two-year and four-year colleges. Over the past decade, she has served at a community college—Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. Her most recent role was as Montgomery’s Associate Dean of Students.
“Our Student Development staff will benefit greatly from her leadership,” said UCC President Margaret McMenamin. She has extensive experience in student affairs and has first-hand knowledge about how to deliver the full range of services our students need and deserve.”
Brewer’s experience includes student affairs leadership, implementation of student success initiatives, program management and administration, community outreach and recruitment, academic advising, career and personal counseling, judicial affairs, grant writing, program assessment, strategic planning, and leading an emergency response team to address students of concern.
Equally important, according to McMenamin, is that she has “a caring attitude toward students.”
Brewer said, “I understand community colleges not only from my professional work but also from the perspective of once having been a community college student myself. I am committed to the community college mission and to ensuring the success of all students.”
Brewer was selected as a National Community College Hispanic Council Fellow and Chair of the Maryland Behavioral Intervention Team Affinity Group. She has also served on numerous boards to include the Latin American Advisory Board to the County Executive and the Board of Directors for the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, D.C.
Originally from New Brunswick, and raised in Maryland, she earned a Master of Arts in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Development in Higher Education from Trinity University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Brewer replaces Dr. Ralph Ford, who served at Union for eight years and left the College during the summer to become President of Central Texas College.