The Carnegie Corporation of New York has chosen four university presidents to receive its 2015 Academic Leadership Awards. The university presidents are being honored for “demonstrating vision and outstanding commitment to excellence and equity in undergraduate education, in addition to fulfilling their administrative and managerial roles with dedication and creativity.” Each university will receive a $500,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation that may be used to further the presidents’ academic initiatives. Two of the four winners are women.
Diana Natalicio is president of the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Natalicio has been president of UTEP since 1988. She is the first woman to hold the position. President Natalicio is a graduate of Saint Louis University, where she majored in Spanish. She holds a master’s degree in Portuguese and a doctoral degree in linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Patricia A. McGuire is president of Trinity Washington University in the nation’s capital. She has served in this role since 1989. Earlier in her career, she served as assistant dean for development and external affairs for the Georgetown University Law Center. President McGuire is a graduate of what is now Trinity Washington University and earned a juris doctorate at Georgetown University.