Shoreline Community College is pleased to announce that Derek Levy has accepted the role of Acting Vice President of Student Services. 

Derek began at Shoreline Community College in 2017 as Acting Associate Dean for Student Support Programs, before becoming Dean of Student Support & Success. He briefly led the Students, Equity & Success division in 2020 during the College’s transition to remote services at the beginning of the pandemic, and as dean facilitated emergency aid coordination/student support over the first year of the pandemic. Other accomplishments at Shoreline include leading the establishment of the Gender Equity Center, collaboration on development of the College’s accessible technology policy and procedures and serving as a founding contributor to establishment of the WA CTC Veterans Services council. In addition to leading and providing support to a breadth of student service areas as well as direct support to students, Derek serves as the primary student conduct officer for the College, and he re-envisioned the Student Threat Assessment Team to support students more broadly through its current form as the Care Team, which he co-chairs. 

Effective July 5, 2023, Derek will serve as Acting VP for one year or until a permanent candidate has been identified. “I am excited to offer enhanced support to our students, my colleagues, and the College during this time of transition, before returning to fully focus on my dean duties,” said Levy about his new role. 

Prior to Shoreline, Derek was the Dean of Student Success at the College of Marin, where he provided institutional leadership in the development and implementation of both the Student Success & Support Programs and Student Equity plans. There he led the restructuring, renaming, and relocation of Student Accessibility Services and other improvements to enhance ability to serve students, and collaborated on initiatives to increase support for veteran, foster youth, underrepresented minority, first generation, GBLTQI, and ESL students. 

Derek also worked for the University of Washington Tacoma for several years where he was instrumental in guiding the Student Affairs and Enrollment Services divisions. While there he led efforts to increase campus enrollment by 50%, and managed awards and stewardship compliance for scholarships while substantially increasing financial aid service locally provided on the campus. During his tenure he opened new offices and added resources for veteran, military, and international students. He also regularly collaborated with student government and student leaders, including coordinating establishment of a new campus event/tradition in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, providing a student health insurance offering for the campus, an immunization campaign, oversaw creation of a Campus Fitness Center, and led a successful effort to open an additional facility for recreation and student programming. 

Derek earned his Master of Arts in College Student Personnel at Bowling Green State University and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He and his wife, Laurie, live in West Seattle with their three red headed sons, two dogs, and four chickens. An avid baseball fan, he is active again in his fifteenth season as a volunteer Little League umpire. 

Shoreline Community College (SCC) welcomes Dr. Lucas Rucks as Acting Vice President of Instruction.  After two years serving as SCC’s Executive Dean of Business, Communication Studies, and Social Sciences, he is excited to step into this new role.  

With an education career spanning over two decades, Lucas has accrued extensive experience in the classroom, most recently teaching 300- and 400-level classes in areas of leadership development and organizational culture.  He has also provided administrative leadership on a variety of baccalaureate degree pathways, Perkins and Worker Retraining funds, grant management, dual enrollment and K-12 articulation, contract training, community education, transfer agreements between community college and universities, and professional development for faculty and staff. Most recently he has worked at Grays Harbor College, Central Washington University, and Bakersfield College. 

With a “huge heart for access and the power of changing lives through education,” Dr. Rucks loves the community college mission and the work that goes into supporting faculty. He is currently a Peer Reviewer for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and participates within the Washington State Board for Community and Technical College’s (SBCTC) Articulation and Transfer Council. Recently he participated on the Baccalaureate Leadership Council and spent time serving on the elected executive team of the Workforce Education Council; chairing the 2020-21 Professional Development Committee with a focus on recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty workforce. 

Dr. Rucks also has a wide variety of teaching experience in both primary and post-secondary settings.  In addition to teaching upper-level college coursework, he was a guest teacher for K-8, an instructor for basic skills (math) and lifetime health courses in the college setting, and a continuing education instructor with a public university. The last class he taught was in 2022, and he eagerly looks forward to returning to the classroom in the future. “I love the student development process, learning from students, and being a direct part of their experiences. Part-time teaching also helps me maintain connection best practices, and emerging technology in the classroom,” said Rucks. 

Lucas completed his doctoral studies in Higher Education Leadership with Azusa Pacific University and his MS in Administration and BA in Liberal Studies (US Govt & American History) with California State University, Bakersfield. He has been married to his wife Jena for 20 years, and they have three children, and a “Covid puppy” named Juneau. Lucas coaches youth sports, is always seeking to catch a larger bass, and is continually on a quest for his first hole-in-one on the golf course.   

Dr. Rucks will be in place as Acting VP of instruction from June-December 2023, or until a permanent VP candidate is identified.