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PRESS RELEASE

Special for Arizona Woman Magazine

Rio Salado College: Leading by Example

Rio Salado College: Leading by Example
Leading by example are Rio Salado’s top female executives. (Left to right): Carol Wilson, Dr. Linda Thor, Beatriz Cohen (rear), Dr. Karen Mills (front), Sylvia Hantla.

Across the nation women are attending college in unprecedented numbers. In fact, women now comprise 57% of the nation’s 17.3 million students in higher education institutions, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

At Tempe’s Rio Salado College, that statistic is even higher. Some 61% of its 46,000 students are female, and the college empowers them through eLearning courses, accelerated formats and on-site employer-based partnerships.

Rio Salado’s senior women in leadership can empathize with today’s women who juggle kids, careers, and college, because they have been down that path themselves.

Rio Salado’s president, Linda Thor, Ed.D., began her community college career as a Public Information Officer in the Los Angeles Community College District. She knows first-hand the challenges women face when pursuing higher education goals because she earned her master’s degree when she was pregnant with her first child and her doctorate with a toddler under foot. She gave birth to her second child shortly after being named the youngest college President in the state of California. “These personal experiences strengthened my commitment to do everything within my power to ensure that college is accessible to women who have families and/or work,” she says.

Rio Salado’s highest ranking female vice president is Karen Mills, Ed.D., who oversees academic affairs. She began her community college system as an Adult Basic Education instructor and later directed the program. While balancing work with family life and raising two children, she remained upwardly mobile through appointments as Associate Dean, Senior Associate Dean, and ultimately Vice President for Teaching & Learning. Karen advises women to seek every possible opportunity to learn new things and develop win-win solutions to problems. “There is a lesson to be learned from every experience, whether the outcome is positive or not,” Dr. Mills says.

As a young Spanish-speaking girl growing up in Colombia, Faculty President Beatriz Cohen, M.C., was encouraged by her mother to obtain an education. She worked as a psychologist before relocating with her late husband to Arizona, where she earned her master’s degree while raising three daughters. Today she spends her days as Faculty Chair for Counseling and Personal Development, overseeing Rio Salado’s Career and Counseling Center. Her advice to women who are thinking of returning to college is: “First, identify your career goals, and second, organize a supportive system of family and friends.”

Dean Sylvia Hantla, M.A., started her career 34 years ago as the Administrative Secretary to the Dean of Students at a local community college, never dreaming that she would one day attain the same high-level position at Rio Salado. In the interim she raised four stepchildren while earning two degrees from ASU, thereby becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. As Rio Salado’s Dean for Student Enrollment Services, Sylvia oversees a team of 90 employees. “I am proudest of the fact that I have helped students see their potential and build confidence so they could persevere,” she says. She often tells students: “Life may take things from you but not your education.”

Rounding out the team is Dean Carol Wilson, M.A., who was the newly divorced mother of three young daughters when she went to work as a part-time cashier within the Maricopa Community College District. Encouraged by her family and employees of the district, she went on to earn her baccalaureate and her master’s degree while working full time. Carol now oversees Program Development and Management for Rio Salado’s model programs, including nursing and clinical dental assisting. “Never think you’re not smart enough to return to school,” she believes. “It’s never too late and you’re never too old.”

For information contact:

EJ Anderson
(480) 517-8472
ej.anderson@riomail.maricopa.edu

Linda Bird
(480) 517-8462
linda.bird@riomail.maricopa.edu