Hispanic Heritage Month Fireside Chat TranscriptDate: September 16, 2025 Primary Speakers: Surya Kolluri (Head of TIAA Institute) and Dr. Mildred Garcia (Chancellor, California State University System) Event: Unite BRG Hispanic Heritage Month Kickoff
Host (Deirdre): Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. I want to welcome everybody to the kickoff of the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration here, sponsored by the Unite BRG. Thank you to everybody who's here in the room, and everybody who's joining us on Zoom across all of our hubs.
This is the start of a month-long celebration that we are really excited about. Our theme for this year is "Collective Heritage: Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future." It really beautifully captures the essence of what we're celebrating.
Today we have a fireside chat with Dr. Mildred Garcia. Dr. Garcia serves as the chancellor of the California State University System, and she has the distinction of being the first Latina in the nation to lead a four-year public university system. She's also this year's Hesburgh Award winner, which recognizes her outstanding contributions to higher education.
I want to thank Surya Kolluri, our very own head of the TIAA Institute. Without further ado, I'm gonna kick it over to Surya.
Surya Kolluri: Thank you. I'm Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute. I have two connections to this conversation. I am from a sister BRG - I'm the national sponsor for SoPro, but when I joined the company 3 years ago, the first BRG executives I met were from Unite, and you welcomed me with open arms.
My second connection is that as part of the TIAA Institute, we give out the Hesburgh Award for Leadership in Higher Education, and we are honored that this year we granted that award to Dr. Garcia. So, Dr. Garcia, welcome, and congratulations.
Dr. Garcia: Thank you so much. Let me say thank you for inviting me - you have brought me home to TIAA. I spent so many years working with wonderful people here, so thank you for inviting me. It's an honor to be here.
Surya: Before we get into Dr. Garcia's perspectives on leadership, I think we'd all enjoy listening a little bit about her background. Perhaps you could give us a little bit of the highlights of your journey.
Dr. Garcia: I think the most important thing is to always remember where you came from. I'm a New Yorker - I was born in Brooklyn, New York. I am one of seven children. My parents came from Puerto Rico to New York City and Brooklyn, to a place called DUMBO that I cannot afford today. Those were all factories that my family worked in.
But one of the things they told us was that the only inheritance a poor family could leave you is a good education. And that has stayed with me my entire life. That is the foundation of who I am and what I do. My values are about educating everybody that comes from whatever background to get an education and reach your highest dreams.
I'm that Nuyorican, and I'm one of those "oops babies" because my parents came with 5 children, and then 8 and a half years later, I showed up. My mother raised 7 children on a factory salary because my father died when I was 12. That's when we had to move to the housing projects.
It is important to say that story to our students because this is important for them to hear that no matter where you come from, getting an education can take you very, very far. Who would have thought that a kid from the housing projects in Brooklyn would become the chancellor of the largest system in the country?
You've seen my bio. I have worked in four-year institutions, two-year institutions, research one institutions. I've been a faculty member, student affairs administrator, academic affairs administrator, a president three times. But more importantly, it's about your values.
Surya: That's inspiring. So, turning to the topic of Hesburgh - Father Hesburgh was the president of Notre Dame University but also a champion of social justice and civil rights. When I think about Dr. Hesburgh and the award that you received this year, how has his thinking, his actions, influenced your leadership at CSU?
Dr. Garcia: First of all, to be honored by such a distinguished man in our profession is an honor. Dr. Hesburgh had a saying - whatever your values are, stay committed to them, and don't let anybody distract you from those values. That is what I live with every day.
For me, it is about helping those who are less fortunate to go on to higher education. At the CSU, we have over 460,000 students - we may cut up to 500,000. We serve the first generation, the low-income, the students of color, and the adults. We're the largest system in the country doing this.
As it's Hispanic Heritage Month, you should know that out of the 22 campuses, 21 are Hispanic-serving institutions, and one is emerging. It's the diversity of California - African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Caucasians all being in our institutions. What Father Hesburgh was talking about is that our universities should be learning laboratories where we come together from all different walks of life and work together, learn how to work together, live together, study together.
Surya: The award is given for leadership excellence in higher education. Higher education is going through a transformation both immediately and long-term. What are the leadership competencies needed for higher education leadership?
Dr. Garcia: A leader has to have passion first, and values. You have to stick to the values that you have and have passion and love for what you do in education. You have to love students, faculty, and staff. If not, you shouldn't be in higher ed.
But it's also the resume credentials - budgeting, change management. But also, it is about collaboration, setting direction, having a vision. And it's about being, first and foremost, authentic and transparent. Having the ability to have those difficult conversations, being able to make strong decisions even though you're gonna get people unhappy, and then being able to stand in front of people and say, "This is the reason why I made this decision."
And on top of that is building a great team. None of these jobs - any president or chancellor who tells you they did it by themselves is lying. It's all about a team. It's about the team you build, the team that knows how to collaborate, and it's about the leader who holds people accountable for the goals that you set collaboratively.
Surya: You had a national perspective at ASCU before taking on the chancellorship at CSU. What changes have impacted higher education over the last decade?
Dr. Garcia: There have been so many changes. I started my first presidency in 2001. I was one of those presidents on the George Washington Bridge when the second plane hit the tower on my way to work. I lost 14 students. I was president for a week. That's where I learned about crises, and I learned that crisis will continue throughout my career.
We, as a nation, have failed in education. We failed because we have not taught people how to debate and have civil conversations without getting violent. Social media in 2001 was not what it is today. Whatever happens at universities is broadcast throughout the world.
We have a nation that's polarized, and we have to figure out how to get out of this. The changes of people saying that higher ed is not a valued degree anymore - and yet, just this morning, the Georgetown Center for Education and Workforce came out with their report: 5.2 million positions will be needed for people who have post-high school degrees, 4 million of them bachelor's degrees.
The issue of affordability for our students - thank God the CSU is about $7,000 a year, one of the lowest in the country. We take one-third of any tuition we get and give it back as a state university grant. About 40% or 50% of our students graduate with no debt.
Students' mental health after COVID is not good. Their basic needs are not what they used to be. All of these things are happening at a time when we really must come together and make sure that we're educating individuals not only to get a career, but to be able to work and live in a diverse society and live in democracy.
Surya: What is your observation about attention spans of students?
Dr. Garcia: It is going down. Just think about if you have children or nieces and nephews - you watch them, they're on these iPhones all the time. They want instant gratification. They want anything quick. It's like Amazon - you want something, you buy it, it's here tonight.
What we must do is help students understand about learning. How do you learn? What is critical thinking? How do you socialize? Sometimes you'll see these young people texting each other while they're standing there. I was on the beach, and these young people were asking each other for a date on a text when they're standing next to each other.
This is the world we're living in, and we're gonna have to adapt the way that people adapted to email and the internet. Our students are growing up that way.
Surya: You have amazing experience with inclusive excellence. I would love to hear a few bits about that.
Dr. Garcia: It's one of the things I've dedicated my career to - inclusive excellence. It is about how do we set up structures where people from the same likes stick together, but then teach them how to come out into the community to stick with others. It's both and, not either or.
I know there's a lot of criticism about Hispanic centers and African American centers and Native American centers. But the idea is, what we did at Fullerton, for example, we put them all in the same area so that when they came out of those areas, they're right next to each other, and then they would do things together.
It's learning how to understand who you are and what your roots are. My family said, "You are Puerto Rican, but you are also a United States citizen, and you are American. You will speak Spanish at home, but you will speak English in school, so you will become completely bilingual."
That is what this is about. You don't give up anything. You look for your similarities, and our similarities is the love of country, the love of democracy, the love of the diversity in this country.
Surya: During President Obama's term, he had asked you to serve on several advisory boards, including the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. We would love to hear your perspectives on what you experienced there.
Dr. Garcia: It was wonderful because it was Hispanics in all levels of education - from pre-K all the way to doctorate. Getting together and talking about what were the barriers and the opportunities for Hispanics across the spectrum.
One of the things that I think is such a misnomer in this country - there's a movement to get rid of the HSI dollars. However, HSI dollars, or dollars that go to any ethnic group already serving ethnic groups on our campuses, help all students. It doesn't just help that group.
Being on the commission gave me the opportunity to meet people from across the country. The United States is so diverse, and learning what are the challenges in a rural suburban area as a Hispanic, as an African American, as a Caucasian, as a female - the experiences are different, and that's important for us to learn as we educate the nation.
Surya: We have some news to share. When we look at demographic developments and who TIAA serves, we estimate that by 2040, we might be serving as many as 1 million Hispanic participants. So TIAA has been working very hard in developing Spanish language communications. In September, we're going to have a mobile app that has Spanish language communication to participants.
Dr. Garcia: I think that's terrific. I am bilingual, but I'm also taking French because I believe languages let you get into the cultures of the world. I think that's terrific.
Surya: There's a topic that I'm passionate about, and that the Institute has done a lot of work on - longevity. As a society, we are racing towards 100-year lives. If somebody retires at 65, they might have another 35 years in front of them. We think there's a role for education even as people age and retire. I'd love to hear your perspectives on education and older adults.
Dr. Garcia: First of all, it's about educating students about older adults - respecting them. It's our wellness centers on our campuses. Number two, it is about having centers for adults, which we do - the OLLI Centers are for adults where they can come and take classes.
But it's about lifelong learning. How many seniors do we know that retire and take classes because that's the time they could take the classes? It is about having our nursing programs - we have a palliative care center at the CSU, learning how to take care of the elderly.
We can no longer be 8 to 5, "this office is closed." Working adults? You can't do that, and you can't do that with seniors either. So you have to have services for them, classes for them, people who understand their needs - whether that be wellness, mental health, education - and giving them the opportunity to learn something new at a time in their life that they have the time.
Surya: If you think back on your career, what advice might you give your younger self that might apply to the next generation of leaders coming up?
Dr. Garcia: Know what you love. Get to know yourself first. I always tell emerging people who want to be presidents: scrub your body, mind, and soul. They ask why.
Everybody thinks that this is a lucrative job. It is not. It's one of the hardest jobs I've ever had, and the one I have now is even harder. Our times are hard right now. And yet, you have to do it because you love it.
As hard as this job is - and I'm gonna say this job is the hardest job I've ever had - I love what I do. Because at the end of the day, every year we graduate over 130,000 students. That's 130,000 students who are educated. 80% of them stay within a 50-mile radius from where they live, so they're lifting up our communities.
And when they're first generation, they change the generations behind them. I'm first generation. My nieces and nephews, many of them have gone through college. I have great nieces and nephews going to college now. They don't ask, "Will I go to college?" They ask, "What college am I gonna go to?"
That is the transformation that we are doing every day. I have to remember that when I have those bad days, because we have to remember what my values are and what our purpose is in the CSU. It's to educate everybody that comes in through the door to reach their greatest dreams.
Surya: That was very inspiring to hear. On behalf of TIAA and TIAA Institute, we are proud to have bestowed you the Hesburgh Award. Thank you so much. Let me open it up to any questions you want to ask Dr. Garcia.
[The transcript continues with audience Q&A covering topics such as national vs. system leadership perspectives, changes in higher education, AI implementation, enrollment challenges, affirmative action impacts, and technology literacy gaps among demographic groups.]
Host (Deirdre): On behalf of Unite, I want to thank everybody for joining, but really, thank you, Dr. Garcia. Fellow Nuyorican, I'm super inspired, and just for sharing your wisdom not just for bringing it with us today, but for bringing it every day for those 460,000 students in California. Thank you so much, and thank you, Surya.
*End of Transcript*
