After a national search for a new Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), GateWay Community College is pleased to announce that Dr. Amy Diaz has been appointed VPAA, effective immediately. Diaz has been serving as the interim VPAA since January 2019.
“Dr. Diaz’s 25-plus years in higher education, focused on community college student access, learning and success, will serve GateWay well into the future as we implement guided pathway principles throughout the academic and student affairs areas,” said Dr. Steven Gonzales, interim Chancellor and formerly GateWay President.
As interim VPAA, Dr. Diaz provided leadership and support to more than 150 credit and clock hour programs taught by 250-plus residential and adjunct faculty and instructors. Since July 2019, she also has served as acting Dean of Professional & Technical Education. From 2016–2018, Dr. Diaz served as the Dean of Liberal Arts & Learning Support, where she provided oversight to general education programs, counseling, learning center, library and service learning.
She has a broad scope of experience in course and program assessment, evaluation for re-accreditation, strategic enrollment management, early alert and other retention practices, academic support and behavioral intervention team processes. Recently, Diaz has been selected and trained as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission.
Prior to moving to Arizona, Dr. Diaz worked for 22 years at Rock Valley College in Illinois where she held positions of increasing responsibility.
“I’m honored and thrilled to have been chosen by my peers to continue to lead the Academic Affairs function at GateWay,” said Diaz. “The excitement I feel to continue to move forward many efforts already under way is energizing me,” said Diaz.
Diaz earned her doctorate in educational psychology and master’s in counseling for higher education and student development from Northern Illinois University. She earned a bachelor’s in secondary math education from the University of Iowa that allowed her to teach junior high school mathematics in Wisconsin before beginning her career at the community college as a counselor.
Read full bio here.