College Track President & CEO Shirley M. Collado Delivers Call to Action at Excelencia in Education’s 2022 Celebración de Excelencia
College Track President & CEO Shirley M. Collado gave the closing remarks at Excelencia in Education’s 2022 Celebración de Excelencia, which recognized four programs for their role in advancing Latino student success. The special guests also included U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
A longtime board member of Excelencia in Education, Dr. Collado is also President Emerita of Ithaca College and a Dominican-American, first-generation college student. She explained why she decided to join College Track and gave a rousing call to action about the need to democratize potential.
“For the last couple of years I have sensed an immense sense of urgency in our country about needing to get up every day and serve first-gen, brown and Black and indigenous students from all walks of life, from underserved communities, who absolutely need to be seen and heard and who have so much to offer this great country,” she said. “This is the time to be brave in our educational equity work. What’s great for students is often not convenient for us. And what’s great for students is often quite disruptive because we’ve gotten so comfortable in the academy really protecting the status quo.”