In 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama sat down with Dr. Eduardo Padrón for a two-hour meeting at Miami Dade College discussing his education platform, among a wide range of topics. Obama was also interested in the instrumental role Padrón, MDC’s president since 1995, played in building MDC into a top producer of associate degrees awarded to Hispanics and African-Americans. As the community college responds with bachelor’s programs to meet specific local educational needs, it has emerged as a top producer of bachelor’s degrees — it ranks 24th in education degrees awarded to Hispanics, according to the Top 100 Degree Producers in this edition of Diverse.
MDC’s key role in helping fulfill Obama’s vision of having community colleges contribute 5 million new college graduates toward the goal of having the U.S. lead the world in college degrees by 2020 was punctuated by a March 2009 visit by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to MDC — Duncan’s first official college visit as Secretary of Education.
In an interview with Diverse, Padrón, who has served in numerous teaching and administrative capacities at MDC over the past 40 years and will also become chairman of the board of the American Council on Education in March 2011, discusses community colleges’ central role in revitalizing the U.S. economy.
DI: What goals have you set for the broader landscape of higher education as you step into the role of ACE chair in March?
EP: A number of priorities need attention: We need to recognize that attending and graduating from college is a necessity in today’s work force. That means ensuring that access to higher education continues to expand. And we need to ensure that students are better prepared for college, which suggests that the separate universes of higher education and the nation’s public schools need to establish more porous borders, better integration and more effective transition for students. More than half of all entering college students are underprepared for college level work, and, as expected, that percentage is much higher for urban institutions and community colleges. That has to change if students are to succeed in greater numbers.
In a time of fiscal austerity, we need to preserve arts and culture in the academic experience. The emphasis on science, math and technology is understandable, but the arts must be ever present in our learning environments. They are an essential aspect of all our lives and an indispensable avenue for learning.
Higher education needs to contribute to the conversation on the plight of undocumented students. And the point to be made is beyond the politics of left and right. It is, rather, one of potential and the nation’s need to realize and benefit from the productivity of millions of new contributors to communities across the nation. We need a national immigration policy that places the development of talent at the center of the conversation. This is the point of the Dream Act, which would open the door to college to thousands of young people who arrived in this country as small children but remain undocumented. Talent is at the heart of a vibrant economy.
