Augustine Gallego

Augustine Gallego has been working with Achieving the Dream since 2004, and is the Coach of El Paso Community College and Brookhaven College in Dallas.  His particular interests with Achieving the Dream have placed emphasis on improving math skills acquisition, reducing the number of students who require developmental education course work, and increase the number of students in degree and certificate programs.

Prior to his role with Achieving the Dream, Mr. Gallego served as Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District from 1990 to 2004. During his tenure, Mr. Gallego earned a reputation as a national leader in higher education, and was named by Change Magazine as one of the 21 most influential higher education senior leaders in the United States. He completed a one-year term as chair of the American Council on Education (ACE). In 1998, he served as chair of the American Association of Community Colleges.  In April 2011, Mr. Gallego was named as a co-chair of the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.

Leading efforts to increase community college transfers to universities, Mr. Gallego initiated expanded programs for transfer to University of California and California State University campuses. A strong advocate of community colleges playing a leading role in the transfer of technology to industry, Mr. Gallego has expanded and improved the SDCCD’s regional Center for Applied Competitive Technologies.  He was also a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum and served on the Board of Directors of ACT.

Mr. Gallego is a founder of the Salzburg Seminar’s International Studies Program for Community College Students. He served as the chair of The College Board’s National Commission on Community Colleges whose report, Winning the Skills Race and Strengthening America’s Middle Class, was published in February of 2008.  

Educational Background: Mr. Gallego earned a M.A. in Educational Psychology from the University of California at Davis and a B.A. in Secondary Education from the University of Arizona. In addition, he has completed the Executive Management Program at the University of California at Davis and graduate work at Northern Arizona University and Point Loma College.