Dennis C. Denman

Personal Statement

Dennis Coy Denman, currently serves as the Director of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at South Seattle College. In this role, Dennis is responsible for the strategic planning and execution of college goals related to racial equity, diversity and inclusion in order to move the campus community forward in our process of becoming an anti-racist college district. In this work, he relies heavily on campus and district partnerships to support the recruitment, retention, success, and completion rates of students and employees of color. Additionally, serving on President's Cabinet, he provides guidance and support to college leadership, as well as, the Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Community. 

Prior to South Seattle College, Dennis was at Seattle Central College as the Director of Student Leadership/Student Life between 2019-2022. In this role he helped get students involved in campus activities and student organizations, among other things. During his time, he was able to create innovative programming opportunities for students, improved the student employment experience, created a solid student leadership training program and personally invested in the success of Black Male students through the Fellas Friday program. Together with the Student Leadership staff, we were able to Re-imagine Student Leadership by amplifying the voices (and the voiceless) of student needs and concerns. Dennis has been apart of the WA State Community and Technical College system since 2015 were he served as Assistant/Associate Director for the Center for Student Engagement & Leadership at Edmonds Community College. He would go on to serve on different statewide councils/organizations such as Multicultural Student Services Directors Council and the Council for Unions and Student Programs, where he served on the Executive Board and eventually became CUSP President.     

Dennis has previously worked at the University of Washington and Washington State University.  Originally from South Central Los Angeles, he consider Seattle home after 12 years in the Pacific Northwest. Dennis is the first in his family to go to college (#TRIOworks) and graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology (UCLA), a Master's Degree in Education (UW) and soon, he will complete his doctoral studies in Higher Education Leadership from the UW Tacoma Campus. He aspires to be a community college President one day. In the meantime,  Dennis loves talking with students, faculty and staff. You can find him walking around campus and usually wear converse/chuck taylor's.  When he's not being the life of the party, you can find him doing workshops and talks about diversity, equity, and inclusion. He puts students first and does everything he can to get them to graduation day!   

Degrees & Certificates

Doctorate of Education, Educational Leadership/Higher Education Administration (in progress) - University of Washington, Tacoma Master of Education, Leadership in Higher Education - University of Washington, Seattle Bachelors of Arts, Sociology - University of California, Los Angeles