Keri Magana, an educator and student advisor, has been appointed associate director for student success at Davis & Elkins College. In this role, she will provide first-year academic advising support to freshmen and transfer students.

Established in 2021 as part of the Presidential Enrollment Initiative, the Office of Student Success focuses on retention efforts by providing and coordinating academic and advising services that encourage all students to become engaged in campus activities and attain academic success.

Magana will work with various departments throughout campus to facilitate and coordinate academic progress to ensure student success as well as implement innovative retention programs and services for new, at-risk students.

“I am ecstatic that Keri has joined our Student Success Team,” said D&E Director of Student Recruitment & Success Angie Scott. “She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with her that will be instrumental in guiding our first-year students to academic success as well as assisting our current students. Her experience will not only strengthen our retention strategies but will provide a new perspective to our approaches.”

Magana brings to D&E extensive experience in student services. Most recently, she was director of instructional services for Academic Affairs at Highland Community College in Highland, Kansas, where she assisted faculty and the dean of instruction in developing course competencies and content, as well as defining instructional content, preparing objectives, and selecting and sequencing learning.

Previously, Magana was employed as a student services specialist in the Office of the Registrar at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, working with current and prospective students. At Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, she was director of Burton Center for Student Success after serving as the institution’s learning management coordinator. Prior to her work there, Magana was assistant director of enrollment and an academic advisor at City University of Seattle in Seattle, Washington.

As an educator, she has taught classes in rhetoric and composition, career and life planning, and first year seminar.

“I am thrilled to join the student success and retention efforts here at Davis & Elkins College,” Magana said. “I look forward to creating a lasting impact for the first-year students and to joining an incredible staff, faculty and administration as we work to ensure the health and success of our entire community. I thank Angie Scott and Executive Vice President Dr. Rosemary Thomas for the opportunity to continue pursuing work that is so deeply meaningful.”

Magana holds a master’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a bachelor’s degree in humanities/pre-law from Lees McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

Magana and her husband, D&E head women’s soccer coach Alberto “Kiko” Magana, live in Elkins.

Keri Magana

Keri Magana