City Colleges Leader Selected for National Leadership Fellowship

For Community Relations Strategist Sandra Payan Cataño, leadership is about learning how to better serve students, communities, and her colleagues.

That’s why she applied for the Dr. Ted Martinez Jr. National Community College Hispanic Council (NCCHC) Leadership Fellows Program, a national leadership development program for community college professionals, and was excited to learn she’s been accepted into the 2026 cohort. Sandra will begin the program later this month.

The fellowship, offered through the NCCHC, prepares community college professionals for senior and executive leadership roles. Fellows participate in leadership development focused on real-world challenges, decision-making, and navigating complex environments, all while building relationships with peers and experienced leaders from across the country.

Sandra hopes this fellowship will strengthen her decision-making skills and sharpen her understanding of what it takes to lead at the executive level. She’s particularly interested in learning more about how community colleges can support Hispanic and Latine students while ensuring that the needs of all students and communities are represented.

And while she is looking forward to what she will gain from the experience, she’s equally focused on what she can bring back. Her goal is to connect with other community college leaders, learn from their experiences, and find ways to share that knowledge with colleagues at City Colleges.

“I’m so excited to be representing City Colleges,” she said. “Since I’m the only one from City Colleges in this cohort, I want to make sure I can bring something back. We are community working together. Why not share what I’ve learned in this fellowship?”

The program was founded by Dr. Ted Martinez Jr., a longtime community college leader who served as president of Richard J. Daley College and associate vice chancellor at City Colleges of Chicago before becoming a community college president in California. The program was renamed in his honor in 2021.

Since its founding, the program has helped develop hundreds of community college leaders, including administrators who have gone on to become college presidents. According to NCCHC, more than 325 Latine community college administrators have completed the program since 2002.

Sandra has spent the last four and a half years at City Colleges of Chicago. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education degree in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership with a focus on Diversity and Equity in Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.