Dr. Lynda Villanueva, Lee College’s 10th president, is the third female and the first Hispanic to serve in the college’s 89-year history. Villanueva believes that a strong campus culture is built around valuing everyone’s individual contributions and caring for their well-being, and she strives to model this belief in all of her roles on campus and in the community. As a leader, Villanueva builds high-performing teams based upon trust and transparency and driven by data and core values. Her primary core value is success for all students regardless of their background.
Under Villanueva’s leadership, Lee College is innovating to meet the evolving needs of its students and community. The college implemented the First Time Free at Lee Program as the cornerstone of a post-pandemic recovery plan, which resulted in the highest recorded enrollment in the college’s history. Lee College also received a $5 million dollar gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and established the Student Resource and Advocacy Center to address unmet basic needs. Under Villanueva’s leadership, Lee College was chosen to be a member of the Achieving the Dream Racial Equity Leadership Academy, resulting in the creation of the college’s first Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the establishment of the DEI Community of Practice, a professional development program for faculty and staff to unpack their identities and educational journeys and learn how their experiences can help create the ideal Lee College student experience.
Villanueva is an alumnus of the inaugural Aspen Presidential Fellowship Program and a member of the Achieving the Dream Community College Women Succeed Advisory Group and the Student-Parent Families at the Center Leadership Council. She holds numerous board positions including at the United Way of Greater Baytown Area & Chambers County, the Baytown Chamber of Commerce, the Houston Port Economic Alliance, the Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital, the Baytown–West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation, and the Baytown Rotary Club.
Villanueva holds a BS in psychology from Colorado State University, an MA in psychology from the University of Houston, and a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Houston.
