Félix V. Matos Rodríguez took office as the tenth president of Queens College (CUNY) in 2014. His distinguished career spans both academia and the public sector.
Matos Rodríguez is one of the few educators in the US who has served as president of both baccalaureate and community college institutions. He was President of Hostos Community College from 2009-2014, being responsible for dramatically improving the college’s retention and graduation rates and doubling its fundraising.
From 2006 to 2008, Matos Rodríguez served as Puerto Rico’s cabinet secretary of the Department of Family Services overseeing a $2.2 billion dollar budget and over 11,000 employees. Earlier, he had been Senior Social Welfare and Health Advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico.
A cum laude graduate in Latin American Studies from Yale University, Matos Rodríguez received his PhD in history from Columbia University, and has taught at Yale, Northeastern University, Boston College, the Universidad Interamericana–Recinto Metro, City College, and Hunter College. At Hunter, he also directed the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, one of the largest and most important Latino research centers in the US. He also worked as a Program Officer at the Social Science Research Council.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Matos Rodríguez is also an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow. He serves on the boards of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Phipps Houses, the United Way of New York City, the TIAA Hispanic Advisory Council, and the Research Alliance for New York City Schools.