Presentation of the Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award PRESIDING TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2017 9:45 11:00 a.m. Philip Rogers Vice President and Chief of Staff, ACE PRESENTATION OF THE REGINALD WILSON DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP AWARD Lynn M. Gangone Vice President, ACE Leadership, ACE 2017 HONOREE Mildred García President, California State University, Fullerton CLOSING REMARKS Molly Corbett Broad President, ACE www.acenet.edu
Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award In 2001, the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE) authorized the Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award. This award is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to diversity in American higher education. Reginald Wilson, ACE senior scholar emeritus since 1998, has been the impassioned champion of the richness and positive values gained by increasing diversity at our nation s colleges and universities. His career as a visionary leader and teacher has inspired and benefited many. Wilson joined ACE in 1981 as director of the Office of Minority Concerns after serving as the president of Wayne County Community College in Detroit for 10 years. His other administrative appointments included dean, director of test development, director of black studies, and director of Upward Bound. He taught graduate courses in psychology and black studies at Wayne State University (MI), the University of Detroit, Oakland University (MI), and the University of Michigan. In addition to authoring numerous books, articles, and research studies, Wilson co-authored ACE s Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education, a publication he began in 1982. He is also the co-author of Human Development in the Urban Community; the author of Civil Liberties and the U.S.; and an editor of Minorities in Higher Education and Race and Equity in Higher Education. Wilson sits on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Education, The Urban Review, and About Campus. The City University of New York; LaGuardia Community College (NY); the State University of New York, Plattsburgh; and St. John s University (NY) have awarded him with honorary degrees. Wilson received his doctorate in clinical and educational psychology from Wayne State University and is a licensed psychologist in Michigan and Washington, DC. He has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Wayne State University and received the Anthony Wayne Award, as well as the Distinguished Service Medal of the city of Detroit. The American Association of Higher Education bestowed the Harold Delaney Exemplary Leadership Award upon him.
2017 HONOREE MILDRED GARCÍA President, California State University, Fullerton Mildred García is president of California State University, Fullerton, the third-largest university in the state, serving over 40,000 students with an operating budget of almost half a billion dollars. Under her leadership, six-year graduation rates have seen a 24 percent improvement; the achievement gap has been eliminated for transfer students and cut in half for first-time freshmen; and the institution is now ranked first in California in awarding bachelor s degrees to Hispanics as well as sixth in the nation for graduating students of color. An educator foremost, President García began her career as a faculty member where she built a foundation for her now internationally recognized student-centered, inclusive, and transparent leadership style. Her passion for fostering increased academic access and success, particularly for underrepresented, first-generation, and low-income students from all backgrounds, is the cornerstone of Cal State Fullerton s aspiration to become the model public comprehensive university of the nation. A recipient of myriad awards from Hispanic Business Magazine s 100 Most Influential Hispanics to a Distinguished Alumni Honoree of Columbia University (NY) Dr. García was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. A first-generation college graduate and the first Latina president in the largest system of higher education in the country, Dr. García presently sits on a variety of local and national boards, including the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
THE COMPETITION OF POLITICAL IDEAS: NAVIGATING THE LEFT AND RIGHT FOR SUCCESSFUL LEADERS Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute Judy Woodruff, Co-anchor and Managing Editor, PBS NewsHour In higher education, a sector with significant public investment, a successful leader must look beyond today s political and policy debates to find the competing ideas, values, and policies that are framing our national dialogue on the economy and society. Understanding this competition of ideas forms the foundation of insight needed to create missioncentered, resilient, and value-adding institutions. In this session, we will explore the competition of social, political, and economic ideas from different sides of the political spectrum.
PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS 2001 Jewel Plummer Cobb, President and Professor of Biological Science Emerita, and Trustee Professor, California State University, Fullerton 2001 James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering, University of Michigan 2001 Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., Former Vice Chancellor for Educational and Student Development, Maricopa Community Colleges (AZ), and Research Professor, Arizona State University 2003 Juliet V. García, President, The University of Texas at Brownsville 2003 Frank H.T. Rhodes, President Emeritus, Cornell University (NY) 2003 John B. Slaughter, President and CEO, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc.; Former Chancellor, University of Maryland, College Park; and Former President, Occidental College (CA) 2003 Tom Joyner, Nationally Syndicated Radio Personality and Philanthropist 2005 Tomás Arciniega, President Emeritus, California State University, Bakersfield 2005 Jacquelyn M. Belcher, Former President, Georgia Perimeter College 2005 Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, Chancellor Emeritus, Indiana University Bloomington 2007 William E. Cox, President/CEO, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education 2007 Frank L. Matthews, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education 2007 James Moeser, Chancellor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007 Diana Natalicio, President, The University of Texas at El Paso 2008 Eduardo J. Padrón, President, Miami Dade College 2009 Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County 2010 Bob H. Suzuki, President Emeritus, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 2011 Nancy Cantor, President and Chancellor, Syracuse University (NY) 2012 James M. Rosser, President, California State University, Los Angeles 2013 Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Director, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution 2014 Charlene M. Dukes, President, Prince George s Community College (MD) 2015 Amy Gutmann, President, The University of Pennsylvania 2016 Santa Ono, President, University of Cincinnati Information about past recipients indicates status at time of award. The American Council on Education fosters greater collaboration and new partnerships within and outside the higher education community to help colleges and universities anticipate and address the challenges of the twenty-first century and contribute to a stronger nation and a better world.