Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship

Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship

KCC Provost One Of 31 Leaders Selected Nationwide For Aspen Institute’s Rising Presidents Fellowship

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (Aspen) announced today that Dr. Joanne Russell, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College, is one of 31 leaders selected nationwide for the 2022-23 class of the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship. Delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, the prestigious program prepares the next generation of community college leaders.

Russell has spent over 25 years working in higher education in both faculty and administrative roles, including vice president for academic affairs at SUNY Westchester Community College in New York and chief academic officer at Manchester Community College in Connecticut.

She joined Kingsborough in 2016, where she oversees the College’s fifteen academic departments; has direct responsibility for all curricular and assessment matters, research, and faculty development; and oversees all offices and programs supporting student success, high school partnership programs, athletics, student life, student conduct, student wellness and counseling, Access-Ability services, and the Child Development Center.

“Joanne has all the requisite qualities to become a transformational community college president,” noted Dr. Claudia Schrader, president of Kingsborough Community College. “She believes in and actively works to transform lives. She understands that student success is multidimensional and is more than just graduation rates and what happens in the classroom — it is equally about increasing access to the underserved, advancing equity, and improving post graduate outcomes.”

Selected through a competitive process, the fellows will work closely with highly accomplished community college presidents, Aspen leaders, and Stanford University faculty over ten months to learn from field-leading research, define and assess student success at their colleges, and clarify their visions for excellent and equitable outcomes for students while in college and after they graduate.  “I look forward to learning from and working with leaders across the country who are committed to the continual improvement of community college student outcomes,” shared Russell.

Many sitting community college presidents plan to retire in the next decade, creating vacancies and an opportunity to diversify college leadership. Rising Presidents Fellows aspire to enter a college presidency within five years of completing the fellowship. As fellows, they join a network of over 300 forward-thinking peers—122 of whom are sitting college presidents—who are applying grounded and innovative strategies to meet student success challenges in their colleges.

Aspen Presidential Fellows represent the next generation of college leadership: This incoming class of Aspen Rising Presidents Fellows is 70 percent female, and 54 percent are people of color. The institutions they represent are also diverse, located in 16 states, from small rural colleges to large urban campuses. “The leaders that come through the Rising Presidents Fellowship continually inspire us,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the College Excellence Program. “We are motivated by the dedication and expertise that our fellows bring to advancing excellence and equity on their campuses, and we look forward to supporting their work.”

“Joanne has proven to be a valued thought partner and leader at the College.  She understands the symbiotic relationship between academic affairs and all other units of the College.  I know she has what it takes to be a leader that our students need and deserve,” added Schrader.

The Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship is made possible by the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, College Futures Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase.

For bios and photos of all 31 leaders, visit highered.aspeninstitute.org/meet-the-rising-presidents-fellows.

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