Congratulations to APAHE Planning Committee Member, Alexis S. Montevirgen, Ed.D.!
The Board of Trustees for the Peralta Community College District approved the appointment of Alexis S. Montevirgen, Ed.D. as Vice President of Student Services at College of Alameda. Dr. Montevirgen joined College of Alameda as the Dean of Enrollment Services/Student Services in August of 2009 and he has been serving as the College’s Interim Vice President of Student Services since July of 2013. Prior to joining College of Alameda, Dr. Montevirgen was Director of Student Life at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA and he also has held prior student services appointments at California State University San Marcos and San Jose State University.
Dr. Montevirgen earned his doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University, his masters degree in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and his bachelors degree in General Biology with minors in Psychology and Literatures in English from the University of California, San Diego.
His primary research interests include counter-narrative methodology, transformative leadership, student success, educational equity, and social justice education. Dr. Montevirgen understands the challenges that our students face and has helped to create and implement programs to address their needs. Toward this end, he is one of the founders of and an active participant in the Men or Color Initiative at College of Alameda. Moreover, he has championed student success efforts to ensure that College of Alameda is compliant with the Student Success Act legislation.
Dr. Montevirgen is committed to building strong and collaborative relationships with faculty, staff, students, administrators, and the community. His responsibility is to lead College of Alameda’s student services units in a manner in which it is an integrated and cohesive component of the overall college community – working together seamlessly alongside the instructional, administrative and business operations of the college towards increasing student success for all students, especially for those students coming from communities that continue to be underserved and underrepresented in higher education.
Two significant milestones with the appointment of Dr. Montevirgen to the Vice President of Student Services position include:
1. His appointment makes him the highest ranking Filipin@ American administrator in the Peralta Community College District and the first Filipin@ American to be appointed to a Vice President level and higher position in the district’s 50 year history.
2. At the age of 34, Dr. Montevirgen becomes one of the youngest educational leaders in the state to serve in a Chief Student Services Officer role.
According to Dr. Montevirgen, “as a transformative educational leader, I believe in the power and importance of telling the counter-narrative as a method of telling the story of those experiences that are not often told and as a tool for analyzing and challenging the stories of those in power and whose story is a natural part of the dominant discourse (Delgado, 1989 & 1993; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001).”
“As a Filipino American, I live in a master-narrative where Filipin@s and Filipin@ Americans are often labeled as the best, hardest working, and most dedicated WORKERS around. Unfortunately, while this may seem like a compliment on the surface, it perpetuates and fuels internalized oppression by suggesting that Filipin@s and Filipin@ Americans only belong in the service industry and in clerical/assistant level positions. While I honor and salute my fellow Filipin@ and Filipin@ American brothers and sisters (lolos, lolas, titos, titas, kuyas, ates…) who take great pride and respect in the work that they do in these critically important career fields, I WANT TO SHARE A COUNTER-NARRATIVE where Filipin@s and Filipin@ Americans CAN, ARE, and SHOULD COUNTINUE TO BE SUPPORTED to pursue high level executive and administrative positions, especially in higher education. I hope that my personal achievement can serve to add increased visibility to the already well-established (but just not told enough) counter-narrative that Filipin@s and Filipin@ Americans are LEADERS in our community.”
“Furthermore, to be appointed to a Vice President level position at an institution of higher education at the age of 34, I live in a master-narrative where the prevalent belief is that one needs to do their time in position and grade in order to be effective and “earn” their seat at the executive level. To all of the young professionals out there who are just starting in your respective careers, I WANT TO SHARE A COUNTER-NARRATIVE where AGEISM hopefully does not need to be the NEXT civil rights movement of your generation.”
