City College’s Assistant Superintendent and Vice President of Academic Affairs, María Villagómez, has been selected for the Aspen Institute’s Rising President’s Fellowship. According to their mission statement, the Aspen Institute’s Rising President’s Fellowship is a highly competitive program designed to cultivate the next generation of college leaders.

“What I can deduce from the experience thus far, is that they are looking for the next generation of leaders, diverse leaders who are going to be able to tackle the upcoming needs in public education in higher education,” Villagómez said. “So all I can suspect is that my passion, my values, my principles, that have been formed by being the product of a public institution myself.” 

Villagómez joined City Colleges campus community in July of 2022. Before coming to City College, Villagómez taught Spanish literature and language courses at Napa Valley College, where she later became a senior dean. Though she has only been with City College for two years, she is a vital asset to City College’s leadership, according to her peers.

Villagómez places great emphasis on student success in her efforts at City College. 

“She brings a lens of equity and diversity that the college is greatly benefiting from,” said Michael Medel, dean of business, the Scheinfeld Center, media arts, and PE at City College. “Her ability to listen to concerns using that equity lens, I think, is a huge benefit to her position.”

According to their website, Aspen Institute’s Rising President’s Fellowship mission is to identify and empower future community college leaders. 

The year-long fellowship includes seminars led by higher education experts, mentorship from current community college presidents, hands-on working and feedback from both peers and mentors and a capstone project where fellows will analyze their own campus data with mentors to create future plans for student success.

“The principles of the Aspen Institute and my own principles and values align greatly,” Villagómez said. “We both want to ground everything we do on student success, what’s best for students, considering also that learning is just one aspect of student success. It will allow me to think of student success in ways I haven’t thought about before.”

Many applicants apply each year but only 40 are selected to partake in the fellowship. The application requires a letter of recommendation from the current president of the applicant’s respective community college. 

“She’s kind of the ideal candidate for them,” said Superintendent-President Erika Endrijonas. I think what the Aspen folks saw was, OK, this is somebody who gets it, this is somebody who’s done the work, and she’s going to be a transformative leader for the college at some point.”

Reiterating this sentiment, Villagómez emphasizes her own alignment with the Aspen Institute’s mission.

“The principles of the Aspen Institute and my own principles and values align greatly,” Villagómez said. “We both want to ground everything we do on student success, what’s best for students, considering also that learning is just one aspect of student success.” 

Villagómez continued to explain how she anticipates the program will equip her with the confidence to make impactful decisions and drive effective change. With the support of City College and her own personal values aligning with Aspen’s mission, Villagómez has high hopes for what she will take away from the program. 

“I’m looking forward to Aspen challenging me,” she said. “ I’ve been in the system for almost 24 years now and sometimes when we are in the system for a long time, we think we know better, but we don’t know everything and sometimes we get comfortable.”