Young began her career in higher education as a faculty member and department chair at Washington State Community College.
Young served as an academic administrator at Franklin University beginning in 1999.[2]
Young was president of Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio from 2003 until 2007.[3][4]
In September 2005, Young responded to a joke by late-night talk show host Jay Leno calling a sex industry education seminar "less embarrassing than going to a junior college" by staging a publicity tour called "The Lessons for Leno National Tour." Young made a trip from Ohio to California almost entirely on her Harley-Davidson motorcycle, had a brief meeting with Leno, then staged a press conference defending two-year universities.[5]
Young was named president of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 1, 2007.[6] She resigned in Spring 2009.[7]
Young was appointed president of Coleman College for Health Sciences, a part of the Houston Community College, starting April 1, 2009. Chancellor Cesar Maldonado fired Young in 2014.[8]
Young was named interim president of Hocking College in October 2014 and was given the permanent position in April 2015.[9]
In February 2016, Young received a vote of no confidence from 92.93% of the college's faculty and staff. Criticisms laid out in a letter to the chairman of the Board of Trustees included overcrowded classes, an overuse of adjunct professors, inexperienced instructors, a lack of transparency in her leadership, and a disregard for staff and faculty input leading to a "continuous decline in morale among staff, faculty, students, alumni and the community."[10]