The Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania has selected the next cohort of mid-career aspiring leaders for the second MSI Aspiring Leaders Forum.
Dr. Marybeth GasmanThe forum, slated for Nov. 1-3, will include a range of sessions such as fiscal management, strategic fundraising, presidential fit and crisis communication. After that, aspiring leaders and their presidential mentors – high-level leaders from MSIs and the business and nonprofit sectors – will participate in one-on-one mentoring relationships over two years managed by CMSI.
Selected as this year’s cohort of aspiring leaders are Marcus Burgess of Claflin University, Dara Byrne of John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), Honora Chapman of California State University, Fresno, Toya Corbett of North Carolina Central University, Steven Delgado of Whittier College, Christopher Dowdy of Paul Quinn College, Billie Gastic Rosado of New York University, Kevin James of Morris Brown College, Jason Johnson and Mautra Jones of Langston University, Venessa Martin Funches of Auburn University, Montgomery and Crystal Moore of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Also, Pamela Payne Foster of the University of Alabama, Tonia Perry Conley of Mercer County Community College, Curtis Proctor of the University of Central Florida, Monte Randall of the College of the Muscogee Nation, Rocio Rivadeneyra of Illinois State University, Louie Rodriguez of the University of California, Riverside, Timothy Sams of Prairie View A&M University, Kenneth Saunders of Kenneth Saunders Educational Consultancy, Christine Thorpe of Kean University, Julian Vasquez Heilig of University of Kentucky, Mary Ann Villarreal of California State University, Fullerton, Kimberly White-Smith of University of La Verne and Damon Lewis Williams, Jr. of Northwestern University.
The presidential mentors are Roslyn Artis, president of Benedict College; John Bassett, former president of Heritage University; Colette Pierce Burnette, president of Huston Tillotson University; Joseph Castro, president of California State University, Fresno; Mildred García, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Timothy Hall, president of Mercy College; Sharon Herzberger, president emerita of Whittier College and Harold Martin, chancellor of North Carolina A&T University.
Also, Charlie Nelms, former chancellor of Indiana University East, University of Michigan-Flint and North Carolina Central University; Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity College; Alvin Schexnider, president of Schexnider & Associates, LLC; William Serrata, president of El Paso County Community College; Vinton Thompson, president emeritus of Metropolitan College of New York; Rowena Tomaneng, president of Berkeley City College and David Wilson, president of Morgan State University.
“Ultimately, this program seeks to equip individuals, often on the periphery of discussions on leadership, with the skills, knowledge and network to lead institutions that serve students that are the most in need,” said CMSI director Dr. Marybeth Gasman. “Because this program aims to alter what leadership looks like across the landscape of higher education, the forum acts as a hub for innovation and each aspiring leader and mentor were hand-selected for their eagerness to become trailblazers.”
The forum is supported by $825,000 from the ECMC Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Apple, Samsung, HP, Intel, Pinterest and the Penn Executive Doctorate in Higher Education program.
