Arizona Western College names Shadi Kilani as entrepreneurial college leader

Arizona Western College has put Dr. Shadi Kilani in charge of the part of campus that is meant to turn education into local economic results.

Kilani will start May 18 as executive vice president of the Entrepreneurial College, a role that makes him the college’s chief external ambassador and places him at the center of AWC’s workforce, career and technical education, healthcare and reskilling efforts in Yuma and La Paz counties. The appointment comes as Dr. Reetika Dhawan prepares to become AWC’s president on June 1, setting up a planned leadership transition at the top of the institution.

For Yuma County, the significance is bigger than a personnel change. AWC launched the Entrepreneurial College on May 18, 2023, after more than 20 roundtable sessions with CTE leaders, faculty and staff across all 10 campuses. The model was built to match training with local labor demand, using a mix of credit and non-credit classes, including some that do not follow the traditional semester schedule. The college’s own workforce planning also uses JobsEQ labor-market analytics to track regional job shifts and identify gaps in Yuma and La Paz counties.

Kilani has said he wants to strengthen workforce pathways, widen access and flexibility for students, and deepen partnerships that help both student success and regional growth. That matters in Yuma, where many students juggle work, family and class schedules, and where employers want faster routes to skilled workers. In his first year, the question will be whether AWC can translate that mission into more short-term credentials, better employer alignment and clearer job pipelines for residents who need training that fits real life.

The college has already made healthcare one of its clearest pressure points. In April 2023, AWC expanded its nursing cohort to 60 students per semester, up from 40, to help address nursing shortages. In October 2024, AWC and Onvida Health broke ground on a Health Careers Center to expand healthcare training in Yuma County. Those projects suggest Kilani will step into a system that is already trying to connect classrooms to hospitals, clinics and other high-demand employers.

His background fits that agenda. AWC says he brings more than 20 years of experience in higher education, healthcare and workforce development, and joins the college from Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas, where he served as Division Dean of Health, Business and Industry and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs. The college said his experience includes accreditation work, launching new academic and workforce initiatives, and embedding industry-recognized certifications into programs.

Kilani emerged from a public search that included forums on April 16 and April 20 at the Matador Activity Center on the Yuma campus. The five finalists also included Dr. Isaac Zúñiga, Dr. Shelley Pearson, Dr. David Campbell and Andrew Clegg. AWC described the EVP as the leader of pipelines tied to healthcare, manufacturing, energy and information technology, and that is where the first hard evidence of success will be measured. If the role works, residents will see it in more training seats, stronger employer ties and a steadier flow of graduates into local jobs.