George Timmons
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) President George Timmons has joined Presidents for Latino Student Success, a group of college presidents and chancellors committed to making their campuses learning environments where Latino students — and all students — thrive.
Excelencia in Education, the nation’s premier authority on efforts to accelerate Latino student success in higher education, created Presidents for Latino Student Success in 2014 to support institutional leaders who are transforming higher education.
Through the network, Timmons will collaborate with Excelencia and other post-secondary leaders to leverage expertise and resources, foster partnerships, and amplify current efforts to accelerate Latino student success in higher education at the national level.
“Institutional leadership focused on intentionally serving Latino, and all, students is the hallmark of the presidents and chancellors in this network,” said Sarita Brown, co-founder and president of Excelencia in Education. “Excelencia is honored to make common cause with the action-oriented, trend-setting presidents and chancellors who have answered our national call to accelerate Latino student success in higher education and ensure America’s future.”
Timmons joins more than 150 leaders that belong to the Presidents for Latino Student Success network and lead the nation in enrolling and graduating Latino students. Although the network represents only 5% of the thousands of colleges and universities across the country, affiliated institutions enroll 32% — and graduate 34% — of all Latino students in higher education.
HCC has been a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016. In the fall of 2024, 33% of all HCC students identified as Hispanic or Latino.
“Joining the network seemed like the next logical step to better equip myself and the members of our team with the best available resources to help all of our students be successful,” Timmons said. “This is consistent with our mission of being an institution of academic excellence that helps remove barriers to student success and doing it in a way that is inclusive, kind, collaborative, and grounded in trust.”
