Shirley M. Collado, Ph.D., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of College Track, a national college success organization that partners with first-generation students from underserved communities on their path to and through college.
Throughout her 30-year career, Dr. Shirley Collado has consistently used her leadership positions to champion equity, dismantle barriers and democratize potential among first-generation college students. She has combined her lived experience as a first-generation graduate with her leadership roles to become a nationally recognized advocate for higher education as one of the most powerful drivers of social mobility for young people from underserved communities.
Alongside her leadership at College Track, she serves as a board and commission member, an adviser to multiple institutions, and in other honorary positions.
Service at Vanderbilt University
Dr. Shirley Collado served on Vanderbilt University’s Board of Trust from 2014 to 2024 and was appointed Trustee Emerita at the conclusion of her service. A proud Vanderbilt alumna, Dr. Collado earned her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt in 1994 as a member of the Posse Foundation’s inaugural cohort of scholars. She went on to complete her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology at Duke University. In doing so, Dr. Collado became the first Posse scholar to earn a doctoral degree and the first to become a trustee of a higher education institution upon her appointment to Vanderbilt’s board in 2014.
Leadership at Ithaca College
Before joining College Track, Dr. Collado served as the ninth president of Ithaca College from 2017 to 2021, and was later named President Emerita. She was the first person of color to serve as president of the college and the first Dominican American in the United States to lead a four-year higher education institution. Her presidency was built on a career focused on expanding access, strengthening student outcomes, and leveraging strategic, innovative approaches in higher education, including the launch of Ithaca College’s strategic plan, Ithaca Forever.
National leadership roles
Dr. Shirley Collado previously held senior leadership roles at Rutgers University-Newark, Middlebury College, and The Posse Foundation. As executive vice president of Posse, she helped scale the organization nationally.
In addition to her leadership at College Track, Dr. Collado serves on the boards of Excelencia in Education, IntermediaryEd (formerly ACT), the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and StarRez. She is a founding member of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and co-chaired the Carnegie Commission on Postsecondary Education. She also serves on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Commission on Opportunities After High School, advises The Flight School, and is honorary chairwoman of The Mariposa DR Foundation.
Personal life
Born in Brooklyn to Dominican immigrant parents, Shirley M. Collado was the first in her family to graduate from college. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, award-winning poet A. Van Jordan.