** 2024 Commencement Updates **

** 2024 Commencement Updates **

Jessica Jaramillo Attends Harvard Management Institute

Jessica Jaramillo

Las Vegas, N.M. – A New Mexico Highlands director learned about higher education management best practices at a Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Institute.

Jessica Jaramillo, Highlands University’s director of recruitment and undergraduate admissions, participated in the Harvard training June 3 – June 15 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“The major takeaway for me at the Harvard management institute was how to adapt your personal management style to develop a high-functioning team,” Jaramillo said. “We learned how to lead and manage during turbulent times ranging from a budget crisis to team turnover.

“I developed more awareness about how diversity on teams, like we have at Highlands, make universities function in a more adaptable way,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo said she was proud to represent Highlands at the Harvard management institute. She was the only representative from a New Mexico university.

“My Harvard training is beneficial to Highlands because it allows me to better guide and enthuse my own department’s team,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo said she is dedicated to lifelong learning and professional development that enhance her contributions to Highlands.

She competed with applicants nationwide and was among only 15 selected to begin a Ph.D. program at Colorado State University in education and human resources studies with a concentration in higher education leadership.

“I’m thrilled to start my doctoral studies at C.S.U. in July through a combination of distance and on-site learning, making it possible to continue my Highlands position. My passion is to be a change agent  working with students in a student support services role that encourages diversity, equity and inclusion,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo, who assumed her position at Highlands in June 2016, serves in a number of national leadership roles in higher education. She was recently chosen to serve on the national board for the American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officers and serves on the National Hispanic Association of College and Universities academic scholarship review committee, among others.

“These kinds of leadership roles give me the opportunity to increase Highlands’ visibility on a national level while keeping a pulse on emerging higher education best practices,” Jaramillo said.

Prior to joining the Highlands staff in 2016, Jaramillo held a number of positions at the University of New Mexico such as admissions coordinator for the School of Medicine Combined BA/MD Degree Program and student recruitment specialist.

Jaramillo, a Questa, New Mexico native, earned her master’s degree in public administration from the University of New Mexico as well as a bachelor’s degree from UNM in political science and Spanish.