Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship

Introduction | Application Status | Nominate a Leader | FAQs | Meet the 2024-2025 Class | Aspen Presidential Fellowship Alumni | Related Resources

Introduction

The Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship is a year-long executive leadership experience that brings together a reform-minded group of up to 40 aspiring community college presidents. The program includes three residential sessions, mentoring from accomplished veteran presidents, and opportunities to apply learning from the seat of the president.

The curriculum is organized around three themes drawn from Aspen’s research into how excellent community colleges have achieved excellent and equitable student outcomes: (1) prioritized collegewide student success strategies that deliver results, (2) external partnerships with employers, universities, and K-12 schools that improve student outcomes at scale, and (3) institutional capacities (including finance and data use) that enable student success strategies and partnerships to succeed.

Across the year, fellows:

Learn from Aspen’s curriculum, including frameworks and models of excellence for scaled reform leading to improved post-completion student outcomes, grounded in nearly 15 years of research.
Participate in a structured mentorship experience with a current or former president that helps fellows differentiate their current role from a presidential role.
Join a network of forward-thinking peers committed to supporting and challenging one another in the pursuit of collegewide reforms.
Apply the learning through a comprehensive capstone experience, in which fellows will practice analytic processes, practical application of the frameworks, strategy development, and data-informed communication from the seat of the president.
Analyze data and apply conclusions to the development of scaled, prioritized strategies to meet student success challenges at their home colleges.

Funding is made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Burton Family Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the College Futures Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Applications Open

The Rising Presidents Fellowship application is now open and will close on January 13, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET.

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit an intent to apply, which grants access to the online application system.

Submit an Intent to Apply

Nominate a Leader

If you know outstanding leaders who would benefit from this transformative opportunity, please nominate them. Nominees will be notified on a rolling basis. Nominations are not required, so whether you’re a potential applicant or know someone who is, we welcome all expressions of interest.

Nominate a Leader Today

FAQs

When do applications open for the next cohort?

What is the application process for the program?

How do I nominate someone?

Who should apply?

When will the next cohort take place?

How can I learn more?

Do I have to work for a community college to be eligible?

How much does the program cost?

Meet the 2024-2025 Class

Thinking about student success by including learning, completion, labor market, and equitable outcomes as equal parts in measuring the whole of success has challenged and enlightened me. My new definition of student success is one that focuses on the goal of making the middle class possible for our students.

– Dr. Michael A. Baston, Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Provost, LaGuardia Community College
As I reflect on the Aspen Fellowship, it has changed me. The fellowship has literally changed how I think. The four principles of student success; learning, completion, labor market outcomes, and equitable outcomes, are the prism by which we now make every decision at Tulsa Community College.

— Leigh Goodson, 2016-2017 Aspen Presidential Fellow, President and CEO, Tulsa Community College
My membership in the inaugural class of the Aspen Presidential Fellowship has affirmed my vision for Amarillo College and been transformational in my ability to lead the college towards that vision.

— Russell Lowery-Hart, 2016-2017 Aspen Presidential Fellow, President, Amarillo College
I’ve learned that to effectively increase student success, community college presidents will need to communicate effectively, master creative and innovative solutions, build collaborations for impact across diverse organizations, and create a vision focused on common goals, all while effectively managing what the college may be experiencing at the moment.

— Kristen Westover, 2016-2017 Aspen Presidential Fellow, President, Mountain Empire Community College
I expected, like in most fellowships, to spend more time working on my application, resume, and interview. Instead, I experienced much more – an introspective look at my beliefs, values, and abilities; deep discussion about perceptions, challenging higher education issues, foundations of teaching and learning, critical thinking, leading change, leadership style, and how to set the vision.

— Tonjua Williams, 2016-2017 Aspen Presidential Fellow, President, St. Petersburg College
My Aspen experience has allowed me to more effectively lead through transformational change. It allowed me to examine the status quo and recognize that doing the same things and expecting different results is indeed insanity.

— Michael Gutierrez, 2016-2017 Aspen Presidential Fellow, President, Sacramento City College

Aspen Presidential Fellowship Alumni

As of October 2024, 375 leaders have completed the Aspen Presidential Fellowship, 176 of whom are serving as community college presidents. The Rising Presidents Fellowship (RPF) started in 2016 and the New Presidents Fellowship (NPF)—now known as the Presidents Fellowship—began in 2020. This growing cadre of change-makers advance student success at their institutions, support each other, and influence the entire sector, working at colleges that educate millions of students.