Decatur, IL – Dr. Isaac Zúñiga, Executive Vice President of Academics and Student Success at Richland Community College, is one of 40 leaders selected by The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (Aspen) for the 2024-25 Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship. This comes as the Illinois Latino Council on Higher Education (ILACHE) honors Dr. Zúñiga with the 2024 ILACHE Lifetime Achievement Award.
As one of the Aspen fellows, Dr. Zúñiga was selected through a competitive process to represent the next generation of college leadership. In this fellowship, he will work closely with highly accomplished community college presidents and thought leaders over ten months to learn from field-leading research, examine demographic and labor market conditions in their communities, assess student outcomes at their colleges, and advance a clear vision for excellent and equitable outcomes for students while in college and after they graduate. Rising Presidents Fellows aspire to enter a college presidency within five years of completing the fellowship.
“I’m honored to be selected for Cohort 9 of the Aspen’s Presidential Fellowship,” said Dr. Zúñiga. “This opportunity is a chance for profound professional growth and transformation. I’m excited to engage with national community leaders and colleagues who share our commitment to innovation and creativity that will inspire new ideas that I can bring back to campus.”
Dr. Zúñiga also received the 2024 ILACHE Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honors a leader whose lifetime body of work and commitment serves as a model for other educators. ILACHE said the award is reserved for a person whose contributions to Latinos in higher education are inspiring and whose trajectory they want others to emulate.