Interim Superintendent-President Kindred Murillo announced that her contract has been extended for two additional years and said she will be continuing to ensure the college’s full affirmation.
Dressed in City College colors, Murillo takes a step away from her desk to discuss the achievements from her past term and her goals planned for the future years as a continuing president.
“I want to really help refocus the City College on two key things, student-centered and equity-focused. If you do it right you create a place where students feel like they belong,” Murillo said.
Her collaborative leadership style has changed the college’s approach to hiring collectively. She started by introducing equity workshops and training implementations for faculty.
“We started our first workshop the other day for hiring diversity and faculty. We are hiring ten new faculty this spring and we are hoping that it changes by now screening people in rather than out,” she said.
Murilo said one of her goals is to have an inclusive campus, and that increasing the diversity within the faculty is a part of that.
“You want to make sure that you are letting students see that there are people like them in high positions and in the faculty ranks. I think it really sends a message that you can do it. When I was growing up women weren’t managers or anything. We never grew up thinking we could do that. I never thought that I could be a leader. So, we want to give our students a role model like that,” the interim superintendent-president said.
The common question is always about change but Murillo said she finds consistency just as important to ensure smooth transitions between different terms.
“As a President, you can walk in and change things, but is that really fair to the students and the faculty? If we change things every time there is a new president, why not have really clear systems?” she said.
Within four different college districts, Murillo has created and updated systems to make sure they work efficiently and accomplish goals of equality.
The interim superintendent-president said another goal for this year is to ensure a systematic process at City College.
“I am trying to make sure that when I do leave, the college is positioned to continue with the work we are doing now. So we can’t just let the diversity, equity, inclusion efforts just go away. It has to be baked in,” she said.
When asked where she would like to see the city college in five years, Murillo responded with, “I’d love to see that the college has made significant improvement on hiring diversity in the faculty ranks and in the upper management ranks. Our middle management is relatively diverse right now, the executive level is not. I really believe strongly that our role is to make sure that happens. It takes time and that’s why I have agreed to stay for two years.”
During this extension, Murillo additionally plans to determine if the college can apply for a general obligation bond, revitalizing the Educational Master Plan and inquiring about an accessibility plan for disabled students to have equal accessibility on campus.
“Five years from now I wish to say, ‘Wow, that is truly a student-centered and equity-focused college.’ I want our students to know that we are here for them and for their goals. This is who we are about,” Murillo said.
