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Dr. Mildred García assumed the presidency of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) on January 22, 2018. As AASCU's president, Dr. García is an advocate for public higher education at the national level, working to influence federal policy and regulations on behalf of member colleges and universities; serving as a resource to presidents and chancellors as they address state policy and emerging campus issues; developing collaborative partnerships and initiatives that advance public higher education; directing a strategic agenda that focuses on public college and university leadership for the 21st century; and providing professional development opportunities for presidents, chancellors, and their spouses. She is the first Latina to lead one of the six presidentially based higher education associations in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining AASCU, Dr. García served as the president of California State University, Fullerton, the fourth largest university in the state, serving nearly 39,000 students and with an operating budget of almost half a billion dollars. Her other presidencies of CSU Dominguez Hills where upon her appointment she became the first Latina president in the largest system of public higher education in the country; and CEO of Berkeley College, a for-profit institution, where she was the first system-wide president for all six campuses.

She has held both academic and senior-level positions at Arizona State University; Montclair State University; Pennsylvania State University; Teachers College, Columbia University; and the Hostos, LaGuardia, and City Colleges of the City University of New York. She is also a much sought-after speaker at national and international conferences and an academic researcher who has published numerous academic journal articles and contributed to multiple books, most recently Latinx/a/os in Higher Education: Exploring Identity, Pathways, and Success (NASPA, 2018) and Leading Colleges and Universities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018).

Dr. García has received myriad honors, awards such as delivering the President-to-Presidents lecture, a tradition at the AASCU Annual Meeting for more than 30 years and a single most distinguished honor given by the AASCU Board of Directors to one of their university presidents. She was also appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, the U.S. Secretary of Defense to serve on Air University’s Board of Visitors, and the U.S. Secretary of Education to serve on the Committee on Measures of Student Success. She presently cochairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Postsecondary Value Commission.

A first-generation college student, President García earned a Doctor of Education degree and a M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Columbia University, Teachers College; a M.A. in Business Education/Higher Education from New York University; a B.S. in Business/Education from Baruch College, City University of New York; and an A.A.S. from New York City Community College.