Félix Matos Rodríguez, CUNY Chancellor, to Serve as ACE Board Chair

July 10, 2024

​Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, PhD, chancellor of The City University of New York (CUNY), will be the next chair of the ACE Board of Directors.

​​​Félix V. Matos Rodríguez

Meanwhile, ACE’s membership elected Tom Stritikus, PhD, president of Occidental College, as Board vice-chair, and also elected a slate of new Board members, all of whom also will begin their terms on Oct. 1, 2024.

​​Tom Stritikus

Matos Rodríguez has served as the eighth CUNY chancellor since May 2019, overseeing a system of 25 colleges with an enrollment of over 233,000 students and an operating budget of $4.1 billion. His historic appointment made him the first educator of color and the first Latino to lead the nation’s largest urban university. It also made him one of a select few U.S. education leaders who has led both a baccalaureate and a community college: Prior to his appointment as chancellor, Matos Rodríguez served as president of CUNY’s Queens College and of CUNY’s Eugenio María de Hostos Community College.

Matos Rodríguez has focused his tenure on championing student equity across the system, doubling down on the University’s commitment to lifting students from all backgrounds up the socioeconomic ladder.

He has made it a key priority to build and advocate for career pipelines for students and graduates through a series of public-private partnerships with New York’s top employers, including the New York Jobs CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs from 28 of the city’s largest employers, and CUNY Futures in Finance, part of the University’s goal of connecting all CUNY grads to careers by 2030.  

In 2020, the Chancellor was a member of ACE’s national task force focused on improving transfer of credit practices. This year, CUNY will finish an overhaul of the transfer process to establish a seamless transfer of credits for CUNY students who move from an associate to a bachelor’s degree within the same major, a revamp that will save time and money for thousands of students.  

At a time when the rising cost of tuition has raised questions about the value of a college degree, CUNY’s annual tuition (under $5,000 for community colleges and under $7,000 for senior colleges) remains among the most affordable in the nation. To further ensure equity for students, the University in 2022 ended a long-held policy that banned CUNY schools from releasing the official transcripts of students and graduates who owed the University unpaid tuition and fees. During the pandemic, Matos Rodríguez erased more than $100 million in owed tuition and fees for more than 57,000 students through the CUNY Comeback program, at the time the country’s largest debt forgiveness initiative of its kind.

Matos Rodríguez is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the boards for the Association for a Better New York and the United Way of New York City. He is a former chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

“It’s never been more important for campus leaders to confront the many challenges facing our institutions of higher education and our nation and ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education,” said ACE President Ted Mitchell. “I deeply appreciate the dedication, leadership, and service shown by Félix, Tom, and the entire ACE Board of Directors, and I want to express my utmost gratitude to Linda for all of her leadership and commitment over the past year to ACE and the entire higher education community.”

“I am privileged to have been able to serve in several fulfilling roles with ACE, and excited by the opportunity to serve as its next board chair,” said Matos Rodríguez. “I share the desire to unite and connect those working in higher education, since this type of creative collaboration is what makes true change possible. I look forward to drawing on lessons I’ve learned at CUNY to help ACE improve and transform the college experience on a national scale.”

Also elected and designated to the ACE Board of Directors during today’s ACE business meeting were:

Terms begin after the fall Board meeting in September 2024.

ELECTED OFFICERS

CHAIR  

• Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York

VICE CHAIR

• Tom Stritikus, President, Occidental College (CA)

ELECTED MEMBERS

Term Ending September 2027

• Sian Leah Beilock, President, Dartmouth College (NH)

• Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College (MA)
• Robert Iuliano, President, Gettysburg College (PA)
• Anne M. Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community College (Reappointment)
• Philomena Mantella, President, Grand Valley State University (MI)
• James B. Milliken, Chancellor, The University of Texas System (Reappointment)
• Tom Stritikus, President, Occidental College (CA) (Reappointment)
• Ben Vinson III, President, Howard University (DC)

Term Ending September 2026

• Carmen Twillie Ambar, President, Oberlin College (OH)
• Maria Gallo, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-River Falls - Ex Officio

Term Ending September 2025

• Michael “Mickey” McDonald, President, Great Lakes Colleges Association (MI) - Ex Officio

DESIGNATED MEMBERS
Designated Associations Institutional Representative (Term Ending September 2027)

• American Association of Community Colleges

William Serrata, President, El Paso County Community College District (TX)

• Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities

Terrence M. Sawyer, President, Loyola University Maryland

• Association of Public and Land-grant Universities

Donde Plowman, Chancellor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

Connie Ledoux Book, President, Elon University (NC)

Designated Associations (Term Ending September 2027)

• EDUCAUSE

John O’Brien, President and CEO

• Association of Community College Trustees

Jee Hang Lee, President and CEO