Fraire began her new role at LSC-UP on Oct. 2 with more than three decades of higher education experience. She filled the position after former LSC-UP President Shah Ardalan—the college's founding president—was named president of Randolph Community College, according to LSC officials.
Before coming to LSC-UP, Fraire most recently served as the vice provost for student success and strategic initiatives at The University of Texas at El Paso. She also worked for Austin Community College, where she held multiple leadership positions, for about 20 years.
In an interview with Community Impact, Fraire discussed her education experience, her priorities for LSC-UP and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What made you interested in applying for this position, and what experience do you bring to the role?
I was born and raised in El Paso. I am the daughter of Mexican American immigrants. I am the fifth of eight siblings and the first to be born in the United States. I often talk about [how] I was 50 when I was 10 because at a very, very young age, I lost my father ... unexpectedly. So at the ripe age of 13, 14, 15, I was helping mom raise my siblings, and I was also helping mom register for college at El Paso Community College. She had not worked in the United States, she .... didn't speak English and was just learning how to drive.
So that's the background that informs a lot of what I do today and a lot of why I feel passionate about advancing opportunities for education. I still believe that it is the single most reliable agent to social mobility. It was certainly the case for my family. ... I believe that it ... will continue to be for generations to come.
Specifically to what inspired me to come to Lone Star—so I have a background in social work, I have an undergraduate and a graduate degree in social work, and a doctorate in community college leadership. ... For me, having started my own college education at a community college ... when this opportunity came available, I felt like it was a perfect match.
How has being only the second president of this college informed your leadership approach?
I subscribe to the notion that we must always honor history. ... Especially when in this case, a pretty phenomenal institution has been created ... over the last decade. A lot of work by faculty, by staff, by the system and the system officers and the former president at University Park ... has been done by each of these groups. Remarkable work. I feel a profound sense of responsibility to continue the legacy of excellence that has been established.
I'm also very optimistic about the future. I think that there's always ... a season for things to be had, and the first decade was dedicated to building an outstanding and extraordinary institution that I now get to lead. For me, not only ... do I feel really responsible, I'm also very optimistic about how we can build on the solid foundation and create even a stronger institution for many years to come. And so I am very focused on 'How do we ... ensure that we are providing an excellent academic experience that engages students in an environment that is inclusive and open to all?'
What are your short- and long-term priorities for LSC-UP?
I look at my priorities in three areas of focus, and the first is ensuring that we are indeed providing excellent academic programs and an excellent academic experience that is relevant for students in this community. I'm very focused on assessing the programs that we're offering. How might we be able to also scaffold credentials of value, as we are enrolling students into two-year credentials? This area of focus in academic programs and creating scaffolding credentials that lead to the associate degree and into the bachelor's ... will be a big priority for me.
The second area of focus for me is really building an apparatus that supports students holistically. What I mean by this is, we know that we must graduate more students who are more diverse, and who are just as capable as any student, but who need additional support, because they are students who have not historically been served well and who may come from backgrounds that are disadvantaged.
I would say that my third area of focus is helping our new chancellor [Mario] Castillo ... continue to build the one Lone Star College team apparatus, and that means really focusing on ... our operational efficiencies, our operational effectiveness, how we do things, so that we may continue to be an even stronger system that continues to be relevant in this community, and that, more importantly, continues to be a catalyst for social mobility for the students we serve here in this region.
What challenges or obstacles are currently facing your community college, and how are you working to overcome them?
In general, higher education was one of the topics ... that everyone supported, no matter your stripes. ... It was a bipartisan issue. For some reason, there is the shift on the importance of higher education, and the value of helping students pursue higher education has been ... somewhat diminished. And yet, we know that we must continue to make the case for higher education, because we know that in this economy, and then in the future, most jobs will require a postsecondary credential. So I am working to make sure that we are continuing to make the case out in our community— whether it's with business partners, or with independent school districts or with industry, and with state organizations or national organizations—to continue to invest in the work that we're doing.
Lastly, I will say that I'm very focused on continuing to really understand the community and to build partnerships internally and externally. I am new to the region. ... It is not lost on me that ... I have to build rapport with people who have been working at this institution and who have been supporting students and ... our external partners and who have been so supportive over the last decade. It is important for me to continue to build those relationships so that we are able to build an institution ... that can serve as a catalyst for social mobility.
What would you say sets LSC-UP apart from other colleges?
One of the things that really drove me to come and explore serving as president here is that University Park provides the community, and the students who are in our region here, everything they need to start where they are at. Whether you are a high school student, and want to do dual credit or early college high school. ... If you have graduated, and you want to start here and get an associate's degree here to go into the workplace, you can do that here in some pretty remarkable facilities. ... If students ... want to come here and transfer to a university, we have many, many collaborations with university partners. ... If students want to pursue graduate programs, we also have collaborations that I hope to grow with institutions that are offering master's in terminal degrees.
Lone Star College-University Park offers that entire spectrum, and that is something that I will continue to focus on and to build upon to ensure that we are offering even more opportunities to students in this region to access whatever path they are interested in.
LSC-UP will be opening the long-awaited visual and performing arts center in December. How do you think this facility will impact LSC-UP’s visual and performing arts program going forward?
It will influence the community and the students we enroll in significant ways. ... The visual and performing arts are not accessible to every single member of our community. Historically, the performing arts are experiences ... that people from very privileged backgrounds get to enjoy.
For me, having a visual and performing arts center on campus provides an incredible learning opportunity for students, and it also exposes our students who would normally not have access to a state-of-the-art visual and performing arts center to come and attend and participate and be part of a first-class center. ... That is quite transformational for our community.
Cassandra Jenkins contributed to this report.
