Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón is president emeritus of Miami Dade College, a national model of student achievement and the largest degree-granting institution in America. In 2016,President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for being a prominent national voice for access and inclusion in higher education. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the “10 Best College Presidents” in the US and in 2011, The Washington Post recognized him as one of the eight most influential college presidents nationwide. Padrón is the recipient of the Carnegie Corporation’s Centennial Academic Leadership Award and the Hesburgh Award, the highest honor in US higher education. He is also an Ascend Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Six American Presidents have selected him to serve on posts of national prominence. He serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Urban Institute, the Spencer Foundation, and the International Association of University Presidents. He is the past chairman of the Business-Higher Education Forum, the American Council on Education, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.