Dr. Shirley M. Collado knows firsthand how transformative an education can be. The daughter of Dominican immigrants who grew up in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood, she became the first in her family to attend college and eventually made history as the first Dominican American to serve as president of a four-year college in the United States. Now, as President and CEO of College Track, she’s taking on an even bigger challenge: making sure a student’s zip code, family income, or access to resources doesn’t determine how far their talent can take them. In this conversation, Ryan and Shirley unpack College Track’s 10-year commitment to first-generation students and the unlikely partnerships helping bring that mission to life, from Kevin Durant and his mother Wanda to the Baltimore Ravens and M&T Bank. They also wrestle with a much bigger question about the future of higher education and why America has struggled to tell a compelling story about its value.
About Shirley M. Collado, Ph.D
Shirley M. Collado, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized higher education leader, executive and advocate. Over a 30-year career, Dr. Collado has dedicated her life’s work to widening pathways to academic opportunity for first-generation students from underserved communities. She has held leadership roles across several institutions and organizations, including The Posse Foundation, Rutgers University-Newark, Middlebury College and Ithaca College, where she served as its ninth president from 2017 to 2021. Today, she is President and CEO of College Track, a national college completion nonprofit that supports first-generation students from high school through college graduation and into the early stages of their careers. Alongside her role at College Track, Dr. Collado serves as a trustee and advisor to multiple organizations. She is also President Emerita of Ithaca College and Trustee Emerita of Vanderbilt University.
