A Caring Advocate
Temple College President Christina Ponce brings people together
By Fred Afflerbach | Photography by Rebecca Bachtel
Regardless of whether you believe leaders are born or made, academics who know Temple College president Dr. Christina Ponce say the school is fortunate to have her at the helm.
Since assuming that role in January 2019, she has been a fixture not just at the college, but in the community as well — at the Rotary Club of Temple, the Central Texas Workforce Development Board, and at major fundraisers. And Ponce is an avid advocate for community colleges in general, which fill a void between the traditional high school experience and major, four-year universities.
“She brings people together in a collaborative manner,” said Temple College Board of Trustees chairman Bob Browder. “But the underlying trait to all this, she cares deeply about students and seeing them succeed. She is creating a culture of customer service helping students navigate a system of higher education. Coming onto a college campus — from high school, or you’re returning and you’re older — that world is just different, particularly with technology now, so you want to have a culture that reaches out and helps.
“And she’s a good listener. An important part of community colleges is working with school districts and having those strong partnerships.”
Ponce’s leadership skills were evident in one challenge she could not have foreseen 18 months ago when she assumed the role of college president: An executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott to close all schools statewide due to the spread of COVID-19. She said staff and teachers pulled together to ensure students, especially graduation candidates, could finish the spring semester earning credits for completed courses.
Under her guidance, Temple College has distributed laptops to students and created Wi-Fi hotspots for those without internet access. The college also has created a call-in campaign in which staff checks on all students.
Summer courses are now conducted online with only a few exceptions. And anyone visiting the campus will be given a mask with the Temple College logo on it. Ponce said managing the college during this time is a complicated and fluid situation.
“This summer has been a really good pilot program for putting new safety procedures in place. We have gone building by building with our leadership group, and we’ve put up plexiglass, moved furniture around, put in different signage. There are a lot of physical changes that are occurring on campus to prepare for the fall semester. We want to be extra cautious,” Ponce said. “Our faculty and staff have done an amazing job. We have online tutoring and online writing, and faculty and advisors doing video advising and mentoring students. We have a very generous foundation that has worked hard to set up a lot of scholarships.”
Plans for the fall semester are not final, Ponce said. “We already have a pretty large online presence, so we’re going to do whatever is safest. If we need to bring some students on campus, maybe we’ll have a hybrid type of format where we have some students here at any given time.”
Ponce grew up in El Paso, one of four children. Her parents stressed that the idea of attending college wasn’t a matter of if, rather more a choice of where. Her parents urged their children to dream big. Ponce said she has always been involved in extra-curricular activities such as student council, sports and leadership programs. “My parents were so flexible and willing to drive me everywhere and always provide encouraging words,” she said. “They definitely helped me get to this point.”
After high school, Ponce earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Texas, a master’s in political science at Texas State University, and a Ph.D. in education administration from the Community College Leadership Program at UT in Austin. Prior to joining Temple College, she held positions at three Texas community colleges and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
One of her professors at UT, Dr. Walter Bumphus, said Ponce impressed him not only with her intellect, but also with her can-do attitude. He said Temple College could not have made a better choice for president. “She’s just an extraordinarily bright, young woman. There was never an assignment that she didn’t volunteer to take on. And in most cases, she would always end up being the leader of that group even though she was the youngest one in our class. Folks would always gravitate to her for her leadership. That’s just who Christy was and who she is now. And a very giving and caring person … a team player. She’s just been impressive to no end.”
On June 4, the American Association of Community Colleges voted Ponce onto its 32-member board of directors. The AACC oversees 1,100 community colleges and 12 million students.
Temple College is a 95-year-old institution with campuses in Temple, Taylor and Hutto. The Temple campus has 27 buildings and sits on 108 acres. Total enrollment is about 5,000. Ponce is the 11th college president.
