Dr. Debbie L. Sydow is president of Richard Bland College of William & Mary, Virginia’s only public, residential two-year college. Formerly a Commissioner for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), Dr. Sydow is president emerita and distinguished professor of English at Onondaga Community College—one of the largest community colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Sydow has served as President of the New York Community College Association of Presidents, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell University, and Chair of the American Council on Education’s Commission on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness.

Strategic reinvestment and reinvention as a means of improving student learning outcomes has been the central focus of Sydow’s leadership, and her research. Her writings have been published in a wide range of publications, including the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the American Council on Education Leadership Briefs, and her most recent books are Re-visioning Community Colleges and Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders: Context, Challenges, and Capabilities. Sydow is Senior Editor of a book series for Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, a role that provides her entrée to the best future-focused thinkers, researchers and writers in the two-year college sector.

Sydow’s discipline is English literature, rhetoric and linguistics. She earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, M.A. from Marquette University, and Ph.D. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has received numerous awards and honors.