Maria L. Hesse, President

Dr. Hesse serves as President and Chief Executive Officer for Chandler-Gilbert Community College, one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges in the Phoenix metropolitan area. CGCC is a comprehensive college with signature workforce development programs in aviation and information technologies and nationally recognized programs in service learning, learning communities, and civic engagement. CGCC's three campus locations serve more than 13,000 credit students annually in the growing and vibrant communities of the Southeast Valley including Chandler, Gilbert, and Queen Creek.

President Hesse began her educational career at the Judson School in Scottsdale, Arizona where she served for seven years as a teacher, dean, and high school principal. She has been with the Maricopa Community Colleges for more than 20 years working for Mesa Community College, South Mountain Community College, the District Support Services Center, and now Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Her early years in the Maricopa Colleges included positions as Director of Student Activities and Services, Coordinator of the Ford Foundation funded Transfer Opportunities Program, and Manager of Faculty Employment for the Maricopa Colleges.

In 1987, she became the first chief student affairs officer for Chandler-Gilbert Community College with responsibility for admissions, records, registration, advisement, financial aid, child care, minority, disabled and re-entry student services, student life and leadership, and other functions. She then served for a decade as a faculty member in the Business and Computer Information Systems division, where she also made leadership contributions as the college accreditation coordinator, co-coordinator of the service learning program, and founding faculty member at the Williams Campus. As chief academic officer for four years, she helped double enrollment, significantly expand workforce development programs, and enhance teaching and learning initiatives in cooperative learning, service learning, learning communities, and instructional technology.

As college president, Maria is preparing the college to expand student enrollments and further develop breadth and depth in academic and occupational programs. Working with business, industry, and community partners, the college has recently developed programs in health care, homeland security, and biotechnology while broadening programs in aviation and information technologies. She is deeply committed to student success through innovative instructional methodologies and comprehensive support services. The college's civic engagement program has been recognized by the American Association of Higher Education and the National Learning Communities Project has highlighted the college learning communities and service learning programs in several national publications.

Maria holds Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science degrees from Arizona State University. She has Master and Doctoral degrees in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University and is a graduate of the Harvard Institute for Educational Management. Her honors include receiving the Maricopa Colleges Innovation of the Year award, the Woman of Distinction Award from the Women's Leadership Group, and Outstanding Faculty and Outstanding Manager Awards from CGCC. She has served as a consultant to other colleges from Florida to California on service learning, learning communities, technology, and accreditation.