Shirley Collado

The success of the Posse Foundation and its partnership with Vanderbilt is highlighted in 'Disrupt Everything—and Win: Take Control of Your Future' (Hatchette Book Group/Little, Brown and Company, 2025) by James Patterson, MA’70, and Patrick Leddin, associate professor at Owen Graduate School of Management. Read an excerpt of the book here. Read More

Collado represents a distinct departure from earlier presidents at Ithaca. For one, she is the first person of color to head the college—in fact, she is the first Dominican–American in the history of higher education to lead any four-year institution. Read More

Learning doesn’t end after those classroom hours. In many ways, that’s when it begins. Especially now, when public dialogue is increasingly discordant, our imperative to teach and model reasoned, civil discourse from all viewpoints and perspectives is more urgent than ever. Read More

Students who are the first in their families to graduate from college defy easy categorization. Nearly 40 percent of undergraduates at four-year colleges in the U.S. are the children of parents who did not attend college, transcending clear lines of race, geography and gender. And while the median household income of first-generation students tends to… Read More

Vanderbilt Magazine spoke to several members of the Commodore community about their experiences as the first in their families to graduate from college. Here are the stories they shared. Read More