With the recent reorganization of the Senate and House of Representatives, a number of changes have been made that will affect staffing for higher education.
The creation of a separate Higher Education committee in the Senate, chaired by Sen. Paull Shin (D-Edmonds), has resulted in some committee staff assignment changes. Susan Mielke, who had served as coordinator for the combined Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education Committee will be assigned as coordinator for the new Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee to be chaired by Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe (D-Bothell). Longtime Senate Judiciary committee counsel Aldo Melchiori has been selected to be the new lead staff person for the Higher Education Committee.
In the Senate Democratic Caucus, higher education policy counsel Heather Lewis-Lechner will relinquish her higher education responsibilities to focus on early learning, K-12 and government operations. Her higher education staff replacement will be Mark Rosen who has previously served as caucus policy counsel for judiciary, government operations and elections.