UTICA, N.Y. — The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program announced that Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) President Dr. Randall J. VanWagoner has been selected for the inaugural class of the Aspen Presidents Fellowship.

The program focuses on developing a sustainable and comprehensive reform agenda that advances excellence and equity in student outcomes at scale.

The 2023-2024 class of fellows lead colleges across 14 states that collectively educate more than 280,000 students. A total of 56 percent of the incoming fellows, which were selected through a competitive process, are women and 44 percent are people of color.

Over 12 months, they will work closely with a faculty of leading community college presidents and senior staff from the Aspen Institute to learn about and compare their practices to those of field-leading colleges. Fellows will also analyze their students’ graduation and post-graduation outcomes and advance their priority reforms aimed at delivering equitable student outcomes.

VanWagoner has been MVCC’s president since July 1, 2007, and authored the book “Competing on Culture: Driving Change in Community Colleges.” He has served as the co-facilitator of the Strategic Horizon Network for community colleges since 2016. VanWagoner is past chair of the New York Community College Association of Presidents and currently chairs the New York State Student Success Center Advisory Board. Since 2018, he has served on the national Policy Leadership Trust for Jobs for the Future and is co-chair of the Community College Workforce Consortium.

Prior to joining MVCC, VanWagoner was the chief academic officer at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska and chief student affairs officer, after serving as registrar and director of research and planning, at Red Rocks Community College in Colorado.

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program supports colleges and universities in efforts to achieve a higher standard of excellence and equips college leaders with knowledge and skills to inspire change. The Aspen Institute says it is a global nonprofit organization that gathers diverse, nonpartisan thought leaders, creatives, scholars, and members of the public to address some of the world’s most complex problems. It has locations in Washington, D.C. (headquarters); New York City; Aspen, Colorado; and 12 sites outside the United States.