2022 - Kristina Garcia of ECC Selected to Serve as Impact Fellow for the Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute (Aspen) announced Kristina Garcia, PhD, dean of the communications and behavioral sciences division at Elgin Community College, has accepted the offer to serve as an inaugural Aspen Index Impact Fellow. This fellowship will bring together more than 90 community stakeholders in a movement to advance the future of youth leadership development. Fellows include college presidents, senior leaders, educators, and youth from across the United States.

“Dr. Garcia is an authentic leader who supports her faculty through thoughtful listening, consensus-building, and broad engagement,” said Peggy Heinrich, EdD, ECC’s vice president of teaching, learning, and student development. “She is one of our newest deans at the college and brings a fresh new voice and equity-focused lens to the college that will help carry ECC, and our students, to the next level.”

Impact Fellows will aid in developing, optimizing, and beta-testing the Aspen Index and co-creating the supporting learning architecture to ensure its success. Together, the Aspen Institute is working with Impact Fellows to create a movement of greater access to and quality of youth leadership programs.

Driving the work of the Impact Fellows is the Aspen Institute Leadership Development Index (Aspen Index), a digital tool that measures key leadership capacities to accelerate personal and professional growth. Leveraging 20 years of ground-breaking, peer-reviewed empirical research, the Aspen Index assesses individual capacities, maps team assets, and evaluates program impact—each with the option for additional 360 feedback. By comparing an individual’s scores with national and career-specific benchmarks—and by breaking down the distinct knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and skills that cultivate effective leadership—the Aspen Index provides a strategic roadmap to elevate one’s potential and deepen one’s impact.

This initiative is supported by the Kern Family Foundation, the Hagerty Family Foundation, and the Bezos Family Foundation.

For bios and photos of the 2022 Aspen Index Impact Fellows, view the Fellows Announcement Guide.