Foster Care Team
Meet Your Fostering Success Team!
Foster Care Liaison, Committee Chair & Financial Aid Advisor
Susan Karlsen Email Susan at: skarlsen@365dafa6.com 972-881-5750
Plano Campus - G117
Susan Karlsen completed a program at the Utah College of Massage Therapy and holds
a Bachelor of Science in Business with a concentration in Human Resource Management
from the University of Phoenix. Susan felt a strong connection to healing as well
as higher education, so she worked part time as a massage therapist and full time
at the Steiner Education Group in administration, where she was able to open new campuses
in Arizona, Colorado and finally in Texas. Susan ultimately decided to resign from
her position as Campus Director in February 2013 to become a foster parent. After
completing the foster parent licensing and certification process, Susan started working
at Collin College in February 2014 in the Financial Aid department, where she is able
to help students attain the funding and benefits needed to complete their educational
goals. Susan and her husband fostered 16 children over a period of 8 years and ultimately
stopped fostering upon the adoption of their son and daughter in April 2021. Susan
is on the Empowering Youth Aging out of Foster Care Task Force which is helping to
create a mobile application (Empowering Youth) for Texas' foster youth to have all
resources in one place. Susan was selected to be the Foster Care Liaison for Collin
College in February of 2020 because of her extreme passion for continuing to help
this particular group of students, and their supporting community, by sharing knowledge
of the available resources, being a guide in their utilization of these resources
to achieve their life and educational goals, and to instill fostering success for
their future.
Staff Committee Members
Sammi Woodyard - Director of Student Financials
Email: swoodyard@365dafa6.com 972-985-3716 CHEC- Room 324
Jill Lyons - District College & Career Counselor
Email: jlyons@365dafa6.com 972-578-5506 Plano Campus, Room G115
John Guillory - Associate Dean Student & Enrollment Services
Email: jguillory@365dafa6.com 972-377-1521 Frisco Campus, Room F109-I
Tanya Schildknecht - Disability Advisor, NAD IV
Email: tschildknecht@365dafa6.com 972-516-5056 Plano Campus, Room D140
Patsy Tomlin - Financial Aid Specialist
Email: ptomlin@365dafa6.com 972-881-5761
Plano Campus, Room G103
Smriti Singh - Workforce Recruiting Specialist 972-553-1178 Technical Campus, Room B-216C
Email: smritisingh@365dafa6.com