Diana Natalicio

Dr. Diana Natalicio's photo shoot on the roof of the Admin Building, Thursday, December 17, 2015, in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre/UTEP Communications
Dr. Diana Natalicio's photo shoot on the roof of the Admin Building, Thursday, December 17, 2015, in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre/UTEP CommunicationsCourtesy of The University of Texas at El Paso
  • Title
    President
  • Affiliation
    University of Texas at El Paso

America’s income-­inequality crisis plays out on college campuses, where rising costs and cultural barriers mean low-income students struggle to get in and struggle to stay. In her 29 years at the helm of UTEP, a huge public university whose student body is 80% Hispanic, Natalicio has made wider access her priority, fighting to keep tuition low and creating flexible on-campus jobs. Academics, meanwhile, haven’t suffered: UTEP has steadily climbed in national college rankings, and research funding has soared on Natalicio’s watch.