Dr. Linda Lujan

Interim President, Chandler-Gilbert Community College 

Dr. Linda Lujan is currently serving as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Chandler-Gilbert Community College, one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges in the Phoenix metropolitan area.  CGCC is a comprehensive college with university transfer, general education, developmental education, continuing education, and workforce development programs.  CGCC's three locations serve more than 16,000 students annually in the growing and vibrant communities of the Southeast Valley including Chandler, Gilbert, and Queen Creek.
 
Before coming to CGCC, Lujan served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at South Mountain Community College, one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges, from July 2005 through June 2009.   Preceding her move to Arizona, Lujan served eight years in administrative roles in Colorado’s community college system, including four years as an academic dean at the Community College of Denver, a multi-campus Hispanic-serving institution, where she had oversight for all the operations of the Center for Business and Technology and the Center for Health Sciences, as well as Performance Solutions, the corporate training and workforce development unit (2001-2005).  Prior to that, she served four years at Arapahoe Community College, a suburban institution in Littleton, Colorado, as Coordinator and Director of Educational Technology (1998-2001).

A community college graduate, Lujan started her own academic career at Arapahoe Community College where she earned an Associate of Applied Science in Management Information Systems (1985).  While still in college she was invited to teach a COBOL programming class and fell in love with the community college mission.  As she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management from Colorado Christian University (1991) and her Master of Arts in Educational Technology Leadership from The George Washington University (1996), she continued to teach at Arapahoe Community College.  She moved from her initial role as an adjunct faculty member to full-time faculty member and department chair of the computer science and information systems department, ultimately serving more than 13 years as a faculty member (1984-1998).

Lujan earned her Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Colorado State University (2005), where her research interests included first-generation students, under-served student populations, assessment of student learning, K-14 partnerships, and educational technologies.  Recently she has taught doctoral courses part-time via distance learning for Colorado State University.

A member of the American Educational Research Association and the American Association of Community College Women, Lujan has published and presented nationally on topics as diverse as ethics, technology, assessment, quality standards for online learning, early/middle college, and student success factors. Lujan’s community involvement at South Mountain Community College included her service as a board member on the South Mountain/Laveen Chamber of Commerce and participation on the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars Advisory Committee for the Maricopa Community Colleges.  At CGCC, she will represent the college on boards and committees for the communities of Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek, and Higley.

A first-generation student who entered college at age 30, Lujan was profiled in an October 2006 community college supplement to the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, “I Wanted to Give Something Back,” where she described her non-traditional pathway into higher education.
 
Lujan’s guiding principle is “make a difference,” and she is an unabashed community college advocate who proudly states, “America’s community colleges make a significant difference in the lives of students and their communities.”