Dr. Dina Sosa Hegarty & Juan Garcia
October 04, 2023
From Dallas College
Dallas College is proud to announce that two of its leaders are among the 50 fellows who have been named to the prestigious Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities’ (HACU) Leadership Academy/La Academia de Liderazgo.
Dr. Dina Sosa-Hegarty
Dr. Dina Sosa-Hegarty, dean of Thriving Learning Communities, and Juan Garcia, Dallas College’s chief of staff, will join the fifth cohort of the program that is designed to increase diverse representation in executive and senior-level positions in higher education.
Dr. Sosa-Hegarty said the fellowship would allow her to hone her professional and personal tools to better serve Dallas College, its students and community.
“Dallas College is ever evolving and changing to meet the needs of our students, which is of utmost importance to complement the demands of a thriving and educated workforce and community. I expect the HACU Leadership Academy to instill further the significance of student development theory, organizational change management and best practices to sharpen critical thinking, communication, decision-making and leadership skills to resolve challenges within higher education,” said Sosa-Hegarty, who completed paralegal studies while serving as a dean at Eastfield College.
Juan Garcia
Garcia said the fellowship will help him to foster, create and sustain support for inclusive community spaces. This fellowship, he said, works in collaboration with Dallas College’s mission to serve the community in Dallas County and beyond.
“Our overall mission is to ‘transform lives and communities through higher education,’ and as an alum of our Cedar Valley Campus, I am a testament to the impact Dallas College can have on someone’s professional and personal life,” he said.
HACU fellows participate in an array of leadership development activities preparing them for leadership roles in the full spectrum of institutions of higher learning, with an emphasis on Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs. The one-year fellowship starts in October with a seminar to be held in conjunction with HACU’s 37th annual conference in Chicago.
The second seminar will be held in Washington, D.C., in April 2024, at HACU’s National Capitol Forum. And the third seminar will take place in Salamanca, Spain, in the summer of 2024, at HACU’s International Conference.
The HACU Leadership Academy faculty consists of current and former presidents, chancellors and senior administrators and brings over 100 years of combined experience in serving various sectors of higher education, including private/public universities, community colleges and faith-based institutions. Mentorship with a university president or senior-level administrator is a key component, as well as the development of a special project designed to have an impact at the fellow’s current institution.
“Our leadership academy fellows have already proven the value of the association’s efforts to increase diverse representation within the upper echelons of higher education by assuming top positions at colleges and universities across the nation,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores. “Students benefit from having leaders from a wide range of backgrounds, and this fifth and largest cohort to date brings a range of professional and life experience that can meet the challenges of our multicultural institutions of higher education.”