Temple College President Dr. Christy Ponce will be a featured panelist and speaker Friday at the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. The festival is The Tribune’s signature annual ideas conference featuring some of the biggest names in politics, policy, education and the media.

Dr. Christy Ponce, Temple College President Dr. Christy Ponce, Temple College President

The three-day event, which runs Sept. 22-24, will also feature former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, singer/songwriter Lyle Lovett, former White House Deputy Chief Karl Rove and many more. A detailed lineup can be found on The Tribune website.

“There is a national spotlight on post-secondary and higher education right now, and this is the perfect time for community colleges to take the reins of national conversations on affordability, workforce development and preparing the people in our communities for 21st century careers,” Ponce said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to join my fellow panelists, share my thoughts on the importance of higher education and highlight the good work happening at Temple College, where we are impacting lives in our community every day.”

Ponce will participate in a noon-hour panel discussion titled “Course Correction,” which will address how community colleges navigated the challenges of the past three years and how they used that time to innovate and build new programs, partnerships and educational pathways for their service areas. She will speak alongside Dr. Gregory Williams, President of Odessa College, and Todd Williams, Founding Chair and CEO of The Commit Partnership.

“Temple College serves thousands of students representing incredibly diverse rural and urban populations across Central Texas and throughout the state,” Ponce said. “We have the responsibility to help change the lives of individuals and families in the communities we serve, and we are doing that every day by building new programs to meet industry demands and by seeking public and private partnerships to create opportunities for our neighbors.”

ABOUT DR. CHRISTY PONCE

Christy Ponce, Ph.D., was named president of Temple College in January 2019. Prior to that, she served as Executive Vice President at Lee College in Baytown, Texas. She also has held teaching and administrative positions at El Paso Community College and Austin Community College.

In 2016, Ponce was selected as a part of the inaugural Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence among the top 40 up-and-coming college presidents. This enabled her to participate in a year-long executive leadership program designed by The Aspen Institute and Stanford University to develop leaders who can help community colleges achieve higher levels of student success while maintaining broad access. In 2021, she was one of 25 community college leaders selected for the 2021-22 class of the Aspen New Presidents Fellowship.

Ponce serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the primary advocacy organization for the nation’s 1,200 community colleges. She is also on the Executive Committee of the Texas Association of Community College.

She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in education from The University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in political science from Texas State University.

ABOUT TEMPLE COLLEGE

Temple College is a dynamic and growing community college that equips thousands of students throughout Central Texas and beyond with the knowledge and skills for 21st century success. Temple College offers more than 75 degree and certificate programs to students who seek to earn credits for transfer, graduate with an associate degree, or complete a certificate for fast entry into the workforce.

Founded in 1926, Temple College has enjoyed an excellent academic reputation for more than 96 years and is nationally recognized for excellence in its programs from visual and performing arts to competitive athletics, and the College has become one of the premiere institutions in the state for education and training of health care providers and advanced manufacturing and workforce development programs. The faculty and staff are committed to providing exceptional quality instruction.