The EDU Ledger to highlight outstanding women during Women’s History Month

FAIRFAX, Va. — In honor of Women’s History Month, The EDU Ledger will publish its 15th annual special report recognizing the contributions of women to higher education.

To be circulated at several annual higher education meetings, the March 5, 2026 edition will highlight women who have made a difference in the academy by tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges, exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills, and making a positive difference in their respective communities.

The 2026 class of leading women in higher education are (in alphabetical order):

1. Dr. Lise Alschuler, president, Sonoran University of Health Sciences
2. Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, president, Norfolk State University
3. Dr. Maenette Benham, former chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu
4. Dr. Adrien L. Bennings, president, Portland Community College
5. Dr. Diane Forbes Berthoud, chief equity, diversity, and inclusion officer and vice president, University of Maryland, Baltimore Graduate School
6. Dr. Gina S. Brown, president and CEO, Oakwood University
7. Dr. Elizabeth Cantwell, president, Washington State University
8. Dr. Julie Chen, chancellor, University of Massachusetts Lowell
9. Valerie Dent, vice chancellor for community colleges, SUNY System Administration
10. Dr. Andrea A. Hayes-Dixon, dean, Howard University College of Medicine
11. Dr. Suri Duitch, president, Kingsborough Community College
12. Dr. Joyce Ester, president, Governors State University
13. Dr. Anne Harris, president, Grinnell College
14. Dr. Jane Irungu, inaugural vice president for diversity, equity & inclusion, Utah State University
15. Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson, chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark
16. Susan Kazama, chancellor,  Hawaiʻi Community College
17. Dr. Alycia Marshall, president, Community of College of Philadelphia
18. Dr. Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Starr Minthorn (Kiowa), professor and chair, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, the University of Oklahoma; president-elect, Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
19. Agnes Mojica, chancellor emerita, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Germán Campus
20. Dr. Emelyn A. dela Peña, president and CEO, National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE)
21. Dr. Julie V.  Philley, president, University of Texas at Tyler
22. Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, president and CEO, American Association of Community Colleges
23. Dr. Lenore Rodicio, incoming president and CEO, Achieving the Dream
24. Dr. Liza V. Jiménez Rodríguez, professor, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla
25. Dr. Sydney Savion, vice chancellor for people, culture & belonging, Vanderbilt University
26. Dr. Christine Taylor, associate provost for academic affairs, University of Alabama

In this edition we also plan to feature a piece profiling the work of the new Alliance for Higher Education and examine the student debt crisis. This is certainly an edition you do not want to miss!

For more than four decades, The EDU Ledger has been dedicated to expanding educational opportunity and advancing the success of students, faculty, staff, and administrators across the higher education landscape. Our editorial mission is to deliver comprehensive, research-informed coverage that goes beyond surface-level storytelling — offering deep analysis rooted in institutional and national data, and revealing both the outcomes and the context behind them.