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Experiential
Learning Activity Assignment Instructions
The
purpose of the Experiential Learning Activity is for the candidate to engage in
conversation with a current administrator in higher education. By engaging in conversation, you will learn firsthand what
current issues the higher education administrator is facing and dealing with on a daily basis. The hope is that you
will come away from the exchange with a new appreciation of the current
challenges facing a leader in higher education.
You
will identify an administrator in higher education (at the Director/Chair level
or higher) and shadow this person for at least a half day (preferably an entire
day) OR set up a phone interview using 10–12 instructor-approved questions. You
will utilize this activity to synthesize course readings with real-life
experience from that leader in the field of higher education.
You
will then submit a well-written 1,000–1,250-word biography of the chosen leader
(i.e., name, title, education), experience, topics discussed, insights learned,
and the similarities discovered to course
material. Include a title page, abstract, and reference page. At least 2 primary
sources are to come from current course material and 1 additional source from a
scholarly, empirical, peer-reviewed journal article.
BIOGRAPHY
On May 1, 2019, Félix V. Matos Rodríguez took
office as the eighth Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY). With
his appointment, Matos Rodríguez made history by becoming the first educator of
color, and the first Latino, selected as CUNY’s Chancellor. CUNY is the
nation’s largest urban university, comprising 25 campuses with an enrollment of
over 275,000 degree-seeking students, over 225,000 adult and continuing
education students, and an operating budget of over $3.6 billion.
Chancellor Matos Rodríguez’s distinguished
career spans both academia and the public sector: He is a scholar, teacher,
administrator and former Cabinet secretary for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Dr. Matos Rodríguez, who had been the
president of CUNY’s Queens College since 2014, is a dedicated champion of
accessibility, inclusion and excellence in higher education. Immediately prior
to his time at Queens College, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez spent five years as
president of CUNY’s Eugenio María de Hostos Community College in the Bronx,
making him one of a select few U.S. educators who have served as president of both
baccalaureate and community colleges.
Through these leadership experiences, he
developed the depth of perspective to address the multiple needs of a vast
University system that includes community and senior colleges, as well as
graduate and professional schools.
While at Queens College (2014-2019), Matos
Rodríguez introduced “QC in 4,” an initiative that helps students complete
their bachelor’s degrees within four years; he significantly increased the
college’s endowment; and he created accelerated graduate programs that allow
students to save time and money as they work toward master’s degrees.
During his five-year (2009-2014) tenure at
Hostos, Matos Rodríguez and his leadership team were responsible for
dramatically improving the college’s retention and graduation rates and
doubling its fundraising. These accomplishments made Hostos one of the
finalists for the prestigious Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in
2014.
From 2006 to 2008, Matos

Rodríguez served as
Puerto Rico’s Cabinet secretary of the Department of Family Services. In this
position, he formulated public policy and administered service delivery in such
programs as Child Support Enforcement, Adoption and Foster Care, and Child and
Elderly Protection. He oversaw a $2.3 billion budget and over 11,000 employees.
Earlier, he had been Senior Social Welfare and Health Advisor to the Governor
of Puerto Rico.
A cum laude graduate in Latin American Studies
from Yale University, Matos Rodríguez received his Ph.D. in history from
Columbia University. He has taught at Yale, Northeastern University, Boston
College, the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, City College and Hunter
College, and was affiliated with the History department at the CUNY Graduate
Center. At Hunter, he also directed the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, one of
the largest and most important Latino research centers in the United States.
Dr. Matos Rodríguez has used his extensive
regional and national networks and board memberships to advance the visibility
and recognition of CUNY. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the
Chancellor is also an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow. He is the current Board
Chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and serves on
the Boards of Phipps Houses, the United Way of New York City, the TIAA Hispanic
Advisory Council and the Research Alliance for New York City Schools. He also
sits on Mayor de Blasio’s NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Academic Council.
Dr. Matos Rodríguez has an extensive
publication record in the fields of Women’s, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latino
Studies, and Migration. He is the author of Women and Urban Change in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, 1820-1868; co-author of Pioneros: Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1896-1948;
editor of A Nation of Women: An Early Feminist Speaks
Out / Mi opinión sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer by
Luisa Capetillo; co-editor of Puerto Rican Women’s History:
New Perspectives; co-editor of Blackwell Reader on the Americas;
and co-editor of Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the
Making of Modern New York City.
The Chancellor received the Albert J.
Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association and his work has been
published in such peer-reviewed journals as the Journal of Urban History, The
Public Historian, Latin American Research Review, Centro Journal, Revista de
Ciencias Sociales, and the Boletín de la Asociación de Demografía Histórica, in
addition to having chapters in several anthologies. He was the founding editor
of the series New Directions in Puerto Rican Studies,
published by the University Press of Florida.
He is married to Dr. Liliana M. Arabía, a
dentist, and they have two sons.
Abstract
Diversity and inclusion are popular and sensitive topics in our society. In recent
times, there has been a larger push for more inclusive and equitable practices. This paper
focuses on the diversity practices that are seen at City University and the impact they
have on the student body and even society. A high-level historical timeline of the
university is also provided. This paper offers some historical background on the
university’s ties with slavery and how they are reconciling this today. Lastly, a biblical
perspective of diversity is explored, tying together the earthy concept of diversity to the
biblical concept of diversity