Dr. Chris Villa
Department: Board
Dr. Christopher Villa is an experienced community college leader who most recently served as President at Portland Community College (PCC)-Rock Creek. As a strong student advocate, he led efforts to improve student outcomes and close opportunity gaps through the Yes to Equitable Student Success (YESS) Initiative, an equity-minded framework grounded in cultural competency and strategic programming. As an equity advocate, Dr. Villa was appointed to the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission Equity Leadership Council, a group of educational leaders who advocate to increase equity in higher education and are experienced in policy development and implementation of equity programs that close equity disparities.
Dr. Villa collaborated enthusiastically with local businesses and garnered major support for equity, workforce development, and entrepreneurship. As an advocate for Career Technical Education (CTE) and Continuing Education, he provided leadership for career education programs at PCC Rock Creek and through his efforts the campus expanded its partnership with Caterpillar and Peterson CAT to support the Peterson CAT Think Big Program resulting in the approval to construct a new Electric Power Generation (EPG) facility that will provide high wage jobs for students in years to come.
As President at PCC Rock Creek, Dr. Villa served on multiple community organizations as a board member, including the City of Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, the Vision Action Network, a community-based organization focused on mitigating poverty and homelessness, and the Five Oaks Museum, named in honor of the Tualatin Kalapuyan peoples who originally inhabited the land surrounding the college. He is a mentor with the National Community College Hispanic Council (NCCHC), an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). Through a competitive selection process, he participated in the Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College.
Dr. Villa served an accumulated 12 years as Vice President of Student Services for Los Angeles Mission College, Fresno City College, and Long Beach City College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in social ecology from University of California, Irvine, a master’s degree in public administration from University of Southern California, and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from University of Utah. Dr. Villa has also served as an adjunct faculty in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department at California State University, Northridge.
He and his wife Diane have three children, all successful transfer students from community colleges. He spends his spare time cataloging music, enjoying the outdoors, and going on road trips with Diane and the family beagle, Maya
