A Washington State University Tri-Cities manager earned two awards in the past year honoring her leadership and ongoing work in helping the university gain a certification for intentionally serving Latinos.

Laura Sanchez, WSU Tri-Cities’ director of student services, was one of six leaders honored as WSU Tri-Cities Women of Distinction in 2024 and she was named Latina Educator of the Year (higher ed) by the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2023. 

Anna Plemons, associate vice chancellor for WSU Tri-Cities and Sanchez’s supervisor, was one of the nominators for the Women of Distinction award.

She said Sanchez has the “rare combination of she’s massively organized,” including managerial and leadership skills, with “such an attention to the human aspect of the work.”

“She’s truly exceptional in her ability to lead in both of those ways,” Plemons said.

Higher education

Sanchez started her career in the nonprofit world before transitioning to higher education. 

She worked at Eastern Washington University in admissions, doing recruitment and outreach, before going into career services. After getting married, she moved to Ellensburg and began work in alumni relations at Central Washington University, her alma mater.

The Tri-Cities hadn’t been on her radar, despite growing up nearby in Granger. 

“But this opportunity came up, so we moved over here and actually really loved it, and it seemed to be the sweet spot where I felt like I came back home, but it was still different,” Sanchez said. 

After working at Washington State STEM Foundation, Sanchez dove back into higher education as the director of the intercultural center at Whitman College. 

She worked there through the pandemic, and when she began to commute to Walla Walla again, she reflected on “what are the populations that I want to serve?” Sanchez said. “And I really wanted to serve a population that felt closer to home, which is where I live at now in the Tri-Cities. So I knew that I wanted to work for WSU Tri-Cities.” 

At WSU Tri-Cities, “it would feel like I’m serving students where I very much identify with their story and help them, better support them, because I can role model, mentor and coach students who are going through similar experiences of what I already went through,” Sanchez said.

Work at WSU

Sanchez first joined WSU Tri-Cities in 2022. She knew that this was “the population I wanted to serve.”

As the director of student services, Sanchez oversees several different offices, each with its own manager. They include counseling and wellness; access services and testing; Mobilizing Opportunities for Student Advocacy, Inclusion and Culture (MOSAIC) Center; the career center; and student basic needs.

Sanchez oversees this team and provides leadership and support to them. She is also the deputy Title IX coordinator.

This role brings together much of the work Sanchez has done throughout her career, “from working with high school students to working with alumni and working with current students,” she said, “bringing all of that experience all into one place.”

“It’s a hugely significant role,” Plemons said. 

Washington State University Tri-Cities in Richland. (Courtesy WSU Tri-Cities)

Seal of Excelencia

Part of Sanchez’s work at WSU Tri-Cities has been an effort to help the school gain the Seal of Excelencia designation. The seal would demonstrate that WSU Tri-Cities is intentionally working to serve Latino students. 

A Hispanic Serving Institution designation exists, but WSU Tri-Cities can’t attain that on its own, Sanchez said. The designation requires 25% of the campus population to be Hispanic. 

Although 49.7% of WSU Tri-Cities’ students are students of color, according to a WSU Tri-Cities quick facts sheet, the designation can only be assigned to the entire WSU system, which doesn’t meet the 25% marker.

“That’s why we decided, well, let’s go and pursue the Seal of Excelencia,” Sanchez said. But the focus of the seal is also different: “It’s not about a number, 25% or more, it’s about what are we doing to best serve that population,” she said.

The application is a rigorous process that is still ongoing. 

Specific programs also can receive the Seal of Excelencia, but “we don’t want that. ... We want our campus to gain the Seal of Excelencia,” Sanchez said. 

WSU Tri-Cities will keep pursuing the seal until it is awarded, she said. 

Collaboration

As a leader, Sanchez works to create a collaborative environment for her team. 

Her current staff includes everyone “from a new professional to an older professional who has a new career path now, and then someone who is a well-seasoned professional, who is more seasoned than myself,” she said.

While it can be easier to try to solve problems alone, that can be very isolating. Sometimes, all a person needs is “somebody else to engage with so that they can see how it sounds out loud, and for them to figure out, is there a gap here? Can you tell me what I’m not seeing?” Sanchez said.

Creating that kind of collaborative environment is intentional, Sanchez said. “It does take time. It does take work. It takes strategy. But it’s worth it.”

Her advice to up and coming students mirrors the communicative leadership she practices: “Get to know people. Ask about their story. Ask for help,” Sanchez said.

She’s learned that “people want to share their successes. They want to tell you how they got there. And if you listen, they’re giving you the toolkit.”

Connecting with people regardless of your differences in background or perspective, is important, she said. “Those different perspectives result in amazing ideas and amazing conversations that could lead into amazing goals,” she said.

She experienced that kind of connection and mentorship during her first professional role in Spokane. Her supervisor took the time to introduce her to the Hispanic Business Professional Association.

“From there, I was able to gain so much mentorship and coaching from all types of professionals that wanted to advance the Latino culture,” she said. Eventually, Sanchez became the group’s president. 

Lifting others up

In her work in higher education, Sanchez has loved showing both students and professionals what they’re capable of, “because sometimes you don’t know until someone points it out to you,” she said. 

Sanchez said she’s grateful to those who have been able to look past a mental image of success to see her experience, allowing her to be her authentic self.

Sanchez said it’s something she tries to do for others now. “However you’re coming to me, I want to get to the place where you’re just being how you are, and I’m going to believe how great you are,” she said. “If you’re telling me you’re going to get X, Y and Z done, I believe it.”

Mentoring doesn’t always need to be from someone older, Sanchez said. Sometimes it’s between peers or “mentoring up.” Particularly important is helping women to recognize and lift up their accomplishments.

“At WSU Tri-Cities, (I’ve) had these wonderful experiences with women who know how to lift up other women. And it’s coming from different places. It’s not always your supervisor,” she said. 

It can be difficult or feel unnatural to share our accomplishments, Sanchez said. “If we’re not doing it ourselves, it is so important, then do it for somebody else,” she said.

“We don’t speak on our own behalf enough. So let me go ahead and do it for you.”