It feels a little unusual to welcome Ashley to the Center for Community Engagement (CCE), yet again; because the truth is she has been a part of the CCE off and on, since 2012; which I will attempt to explain in just a moment. For now though, congratulations are in order because Ashley officially became a Sonoma State employee this week, as the CCE Administrative Coordinator. We are very excited that she is sticking with us and feel very lucky that she will continue to play a key role here in our office.
Ashley came to the CCE in 2012, as an undergraduate student. Working through EOP and Andre Bailey, she found her way to the CCE and was hired as a Social Media Professional Student Assistant as a freshman. Later, Ashley served as an intern for her Women and Gender Studies major, doing blog posts for the CCE; with the idea of getting students involved with community organizations that focus on women and gender studies issues. In 2016, Ashley stopped working in the CCE and graduated from SSU. Then she volunteered at the Strategic Planning and Civic Action Planning event. Thus, Ashley became involved with the CCE again. Ashley was then hired as an Administrative Assistant for both the Faculty Center and the CCE temporarily. Finally her position was consolidated to be just in the CCE, where she continued to work temporarily until this week when she was hired permanently.
Related: Welcome Back. Ashley & Gustavo!
Ashley grew up mostly here in Sonoma County, attending both Cook Middle School and Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa/Roseland. She feels she is honoring her family, who have inspired her to believe in the concept of civic engagement. This was also reiterated by her high school teacher, Lisa DeCarbo. Lisa motivates her students to participate civically and to get involved in the community.
Now that Ashley is official, she hopes to be more involved in the planning process and to be more a part of the CCE. One of the events, Ashley particularly enjoys is the Careers for the Common Good; where a panel of speakers come to SSU from nonprofits and share their experiences working in community based organizations, with students. Ashley hopes to pursue an advanced degree in women's and gender studies, linguistics, African American and ethnic studies.
“I’m happy to be here in the CCE, serving the university and helping it connect and partner with the community,” says Ashley.
We’re so glad Ashley is going to be here, running the office in the professional and efficient way she has always done, for the foreseeable future. Please join us in welcoming Ashley!