Highline’s Vice President of Equity Diversity and Transformation, Dra. Maribel Jimenez, has been accepted into a year-long executive leader fellowship that kicked off this month.

The National Community College Hispanic Council (NCCHC) offers the program to support Hispanic leaders in America’s community colleges. Since its inception almost 40 years ago, more than 20 fellows have gone on to become community college presidents.

Commenting on the opportunity Jimenez said, “Being Latinx/e-centered makes this fellowship culturally responsive and provides space for sharing collective knowledge about what Latinx/e leaders experience in executive leadership positions. The fellowship leans into how executive leaders can leverage their cultural capital to lead transformation.”

Jimenez will be paired with Dr. Angelica Garcia, a sitting president at Santa Rosa Junior College in California, who identifies as a woman of color and also Latina.

She expects to bring the knowledge and innovative thinking she gains from the program to her role at Highline. The college is working towards becoming a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).

Jimenez said the fellowship will give her access to 20+ other Latinx/e identified leaders across the nation, who she can learn from.

“I look forward to hearing about best practices in other parts of the country that may be helpful to Highline as we continue to strive to serve our Latinx/e community and all of our students of color in our service area.”

Jimenez is an alum of the Washington State community college system, in which she was a first-generation student. After graduating, she worked in k-12 as a teacher and counselor, followed by community college roles including Tenured Faculty, Title V Grant Director and Dean of Instruction.

Her advice to anyone following in her footsteps is, “Find your authentic voice and use it strategically to serve students. When you keep the student’s best interests in the forefront, you can never go wrong.”