ACCD News & Events

The Alamo Community College District's Board of Trustees Names Finalist for Chancellor

For Immediate Release
September 6, 2006
Contact: Kay Hendricks, Coordinator of Communication
(210) 208-8006
khendric@accd.edu

The Alamo Community College District's (ACCD) Board of Trustees named Dr. Bruce H. Leslie as the sole finalist for the position of ACCD chancellor at a special board meeting on September 5, 2006.

Leslie brings 30 years experience with community colleges as a teacher and administrator to his new position at ACCD. He most recently served as chancellor of the Houston Community College System from January 2001 to June 2006. Prior to this, he was chancellor of the Connecticut Community-Technical College System, a system of 12 colleges with an enrollment of more than 40,000 students.

“The board is excited to have selected such a highly qualified candidate,” said ACCD Board Chair Roberto Zarate. “We will begin negotiations with Dr. Leslie immediately, and we will be looking to him for leadership and direction as we move toward a higher level of excellence. He will be someone who can follow up on initiatives the board and colleges have undertaken to see them successfully completed,” added Zarate.

ACCD's nominee for chancellor also served as president of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, and, prior to that position, served as vice president for administration, external services and programs at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Leslie’s teaching experience includes serving as a visiting professor in the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas-Austin, as an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Governor’s State University in Park Forest, Illinois and as a history instructor at Sam Houston State University and College of the Mainland in Texas.

Leslie earned his bachelor’s degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio and his master’s degree in European diplomatic and American history from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas in Austin. Leslie is also the author of numerous articles published in leading journals of higher education.

Leslie’s decades of professional and community service include serving as director of the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston Technology Center, Mexican Institute of Houston, Texas Medical Center, the Urban League of Central New York and the Cook County Private Industry Council. He has served as a trustee of the American Association of Community Colleges, College Consortium for International Studies and the Connecticut Public Access Television Network.

Leslie’s many honors and awards include the Recognition Award from the Hispanic Forum, the Leadership Award from the Hispanic Educational Leadership Committee at Houston Community College, the Outstanding Community Service Award for Excellence in Education from Phi Beta Sigma and the Shirley B. Gordon Leadership Award from Phi Theta Kappa. Leslie was also named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin in 1990.

Leslie and his wife, Cheryl, are the parents of three children and five grandchildren, and enjoy walking, boating, the theatre and reading.

The Alamo Community College District is comprised of five colleges—San Antonio College, St. Philip’s College, Palo Alto College, Northwest Vista College and Northeast Lakeview College—and has a combined enrollment of more than 48,000 students.