VP Dr. Susan Bowen selected for Aspen Institute’s Rising Presidents Fellowship

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program announced Wednesday, April 5, that Durham Technical Community College Vice President and Chief Campus Operations Officer Dr. Susan Bowen is one of 35 leaders selected for the 2023-24 class of the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship. This program, delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, prepares the next generation of community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success.  

Aspen Presidential Fellows represent the next generation of college leadership: This incoming class of Aspen Rising Presidents Fellows is 74 percent women and 60 percent are people of color. The institutions they represent are also diverse, located in 18 states, from small rural colleges to large urban campuses.  

Bowen said she was honored to be selected. “I am thrilled to be selected for the Aspen Presidential Fellows program,” Bowen said. “I look forward to what I will learn and how it will benefit the work we are doing at Durham Tech.”  

The fellows, selected through a competitive process, will work closely with highly accomplished community college presidents, Aspen leaders and Stanford University faculty over 10 months to learn from field-leading research, define and assess student success at their colleges, and clarify their visions for excellent and equitable outcomes for students while in college and after they graduate. 

“Each cohort of the Rising Presidents Fellowship is different,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the College Excellence Program. “And what they all share is a passion to advance excellence and equity in student outcomes and the commitment to ensure that the colleges they lead continuously improve.” 
 
Durham Technical Community College President J.B. Buxton applauded the Aspen Presidential Fellows for selecting Bowen. “She is an outstanding choice and will make a great community college leader,” Buxton said. “She has a deep-seated belief in the mission of community colleges and a strong commitment to our faculty and staff and the students we serve.”  

Rising Presidents Fellows aspire to enter a college presidency within five years of completing the fellowship. As fellows, they join a network of over 300 forward-thinking peers — 155 of whom are sitting college presidents — who are applying grounded and innovative strategies to meet student success challenges in their colleges. 

The Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship is made possible by the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, College Futures Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase.