DISTINGUISHED LEADER IN EDUCATION 2019
Dr. Félix Matos Rodríguez
Chancellor, City University of New York
Dr. Félix Matos Rodríguez,
Chancellor, City University of New York
Dr. Félix Matos Rodríguez is the eighth chancellor of CUNY and is the first Latino and minority educator to lead the system. His distinguished career spans both academia and the public sector. He is a scholar, teacher, administrator, and former cabinet secretary of the Department of Family Services for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
In higher education, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez has drawn national recognition as a trailblazer. Before becoming CUNY’s Chancellor, Dr. Matos Rodríguez served as President of Queens College, where he enhanced the College’s reputation for excellence and propelled the school to the highest echelon in college social-mobility rankings. As president of Eugenio María de Hostos Community College, the post he held immediately prior to his appointment at Queens College, he gained acclaim for engineering a double-digit increase in the school’s retention rate, leading Hostos to become a finalist for the prestigious Aspen Best Community College prize in 2015. He is one of a select few U.S. educators who has served as president of both a baccalaureate and community college.
Dr. Matos Rodríguez served as the board chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities where he utilized his extensive regional and national networks and board memberships to advance Queens College’s visibility and recognition. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow. He currently 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.
Dr. Matos Rodríguez holds a B.A. from Yale University, where he was a cum laude graduate, and a doctorate in history from Columbia University. A scholar and authority on the history of women in the Caribbean, he is a recipient of the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association and the author of Women and Urban Life in Nineteenth-Century San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1820–1862; and editor of several books, including A Nation of Women: An Early Feminist Speaks Out. #
