Dr. Cynthia Olivo

Dr. Cynthia Olivo currently serves as the President of Fullerton College. Previously, she served for nearly 15 years at Pasadena City College (PCC) as Dean, Associate Vice President, and Assistant Superintendent/Vice President. While there, she was instrumental in leading college transformation to center student success, which led PCC to become the #1 community college in the state for graduating Asian American, Pacific Islander, Black, and Latinx students.

Dr. Olivo was selected for the Aspen Presidential Fellows Program Class of 2017, and she completed the Harvard Institute for Management & Leadership in Education and the American Council on Education Advancing to the Presidency. She served as the President for the Statewide Chief Student Services Officers of California Community Colleges, and she co-founded COLEGAS and served as its President for nearly five years. Dr. Olivo was also a founding member of the Coalition uniting the African American, Asian Pacific Islander, and Latinx communities.

Dr. Olivo was an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Southern California Rossier College of Education Doctoral Program and serves on the Policy and Leadership Trust for the Jobs for the Future national organization. She also served as a staff member and administrator at California State University, San Bernardino, for 13 years, where she was Housing & Residential Life Coordinator, Outreach Counselor, and Associate Director of Admissions & Student Recruitment with responsibilities for undergraduate and graduate enrollment for domestic and international students.

Dr. Olivo’s leadership qualities include leading innovation to improve student equity & success, consensus building to advance student equity, and creating an engaging & inclusive environment to foster change in our practices while emphasizing cultural fluency to align with student needs. She earned her BA in Psychology and a Master of Science in Counseling from California State University, San Bernardino, and her PhD in Education with an emphasis in Urban Leadership from Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Olivo is the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers who were born in this country during a period of segregation. She is the daughter of an amazing single mom, the first in her family to go to college, and a third-generation Chicana.