Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez was the tenth President of Queens College, serving from Fall 2014 through Spring 2019.
"On June 30, 2014, the CUNY board of trustees unanimously voted to appoint Rodriguez as the new president of Queens College starting Aug. 28. He succeeded Interim President Evangelos Gizis, who was appointed after the departure of former President James Muyskens.
President Rodriguez was educated in the Ivy Leagues as he studied as an undergraduate at Yale University. He later received a Ph.D from Columbia University after studying history.
His previous position was president at Hostos Community College, located in the Bronx, where he held the post since 2009. As a result of the new position at QC, David Gomez replaced Rodriguez as Interim President of Hostos.
Current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who worked with Rodriguez in the past, praised the appointment of Rodriguez as QC president.
In a public statement, he stated Rodriguez “made a tremendous impact on the life of countless students and residents in the Bronx during his five years serving as President of Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College.”
“Felix has demonstrated a commitment to public service and to the success of all students. I, as well as the 1.4 million residents of the Bronx, thank Felix for his great leadership and a job well done and wish him continued success in his new position,” Diaz Jr. said.
President Rodriguez was born and raised in Puerto Rico before coming to the U.S. to attend college. In fact, prior to his position as the president of Hostos, he worked as Secretary of the Department of Family Affairs in the Puerto Rican government from 2006 to 2008.
The Department of Family Affairs is one of 15 executive departments of the Puerto Rican government. It mainly deals with social aspects of the country and providing help to citizens.
Under his tenure, the commonwealth experienced, for example, a boost in literacy after free books were provided to children, an introduction of a new law to prevent child abuse and a health care program set up to provide medical insurance for foster care minors.
Rodriguez mentioned how it was more of a collective effort in the department for such achievements as he listened to what his staff recommended and follow-up on that. In fact, he stated it was the same for when he was president of Hostos.
In addition, he was once a professor at Hunter College as well as holding other public and private sector posts. He currently holds positions in the Council of Foreign Relations, Bronx Chamber of Commerce and Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
Sara Just-Michael, secretary of the Student Association, stated President Rodriguez was a “fun-spirited man” in the few times the organization met with him.
“We are very excited by the appointment of President Rodriguez. We had a great relationship with Presidents Muyskens and Gizis and are looking forward to building the same kind of tight relationship with President Rodriguez,” Just-Michael said.
Rodriguez stated he enjoyed the student events he went to as it gave “hope and faith in the world” due to the diversity of the student body. However, before acting on any new policies or changes for QC, President Rodriguez stressed the importance of listening to people at the college.
“The most important idea so far is to listen and to learn. It is the most important thing for going forward,” Rodriguez said."
“By the end of the Spring 2019 semester, Felix V. Matos Rodriguez will no longer hold his position as president of Queens College, but will be in charge of all CUNY as a chancellor. It is a shift that he does not take lightly, expressing his understanding that nearly 20 years of experience working within the CUNY system in various capacities – from working as an adjunct at City College, to faculty at Hunter College, to president of Hostos Community College, to his current position as QC president – may have given him, in his words, ‘a more nuanced understanding of the system’s needs,’ but not necessarily a complete one.
‘One of the things I need to remind myself and those that work with me is that I need to keep the attitude of a student, in the sense of needing to be humble enough to know how there’s a lot of things I still need to learn, to understand,’ Matos said, describing this concern as he takes this next step in his long career.
In this respect, CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. in February expressed a feeling of confidence in Matos, saying: ‘He is keenly acquainted with the issues that are unique to community and senior colleges…I don’t think we could have ever expected to find an educator with this breadth and depth of expertise.’”
Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez is the eighth and current Chancellor of the City University of New York, serving since he resigned from Queens College as President in 2019.
"The City University of New York ended a yearlong search and named Queens College president Félix V. Matos Rodríguez as its new chancellor.
The CUNY board of trustees voted Wednesday to appoint Matos Rodríguez, an accomplished scholar, teacher, administrator and public servant who has been president of Queens College since 2014, as the eighth chancellor of CUNY. He will be both the first Latino and minority educator to head the university. He will assume the post on May 1.
‘I am deeply grateful and tremendously excited to lead the nation’s foremost urban public university, particularly at this time when our mission and commitment to excellent public higher education has never been more vital,’ Matos Rodríguez said. ‘This is an extraordinary opportunity for anyone who is passionate about the role CUNY plays in the lifeblood of the city, anyone who is deeply committed to opening the doors of educational excellence and economic and social mobility to all the people of New York.’
Matos Rodríguez, 56, has drawn national recognition as a trailblazer in higher education. He enhanced Queens College’s reputation for excellence and propelled the school to the highest echelon in college social-mobility rankings.”
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