Honoring a Father's Diversity Legacy in Higher Ed

In a precedent-setting career in higher education, the late Dr. Alfredo de los Santos Jr. brought innovation, excellence, and inclusion to community colleges.

De los Santos, a posthumous recipient of a 2023 Diverse Champions Award, is remembered by colleagues as a great friend, an outstanding mind, and a determined educator who placed access and equity at the center of his work. His own journey in higher education began at Laredo Junior College. It subsequently led him to the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the first Latinx person to receive a Ph.D. from the Community College Leadership Program.

Dr. Gerardo de los Santos“My father, Alfredo, represents so much in so many ways, not just to me, but to generations of leaders who he helped to inspire,” said his son, Dr. Gerardo de los Santos, vice president for community college relations, National University. “He paved the way, and that’s really a metaphor for who he is, about reaching back and helping others and opening doors at a time when that wasn’t as accessible as it is today.

“He represents the best of those who were about access, courage, and tenacity,” he added. “Coming from very poor means and setting a standard for how you support one another, [he was] in this work to support students, our communities, and our nation...”

Dr. Alfredo de los Santos Jr.’s doctorate was the first of multiple firsts in his life. He was the first Latinx person to be named president of a community college, a founder and member-at-large of the Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center at the Commission for Postsecondary Education, and a founding board member of the American Association of Hispanics in Education. Perhaps most notably, he was the founding president of El Paso Community College (EPCC) in Texas.

“The open-door [community] college means we take everybody, and Dr. de los Santos personally personified that philosophy in not only what he said but in how he led,” said Dr. John E. Roueche, executive director, John E. Roueche Center for Community College Leadership, Kansas State University, and a friend of de los Santos for more than 50 years.

When de los Santos became president of El Paso Community College, there was no campus. So he arranged with the U.S. military to renovate and use old facilities. His first challenge was to find the necessary funding, Roueche recalled. It was in a low-income county with not much opportunity for Latinx people. He watched de los Santos take the college from a concept to a viable multi-campus community college district that served its community.