Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board announces resignation of Commissioner Raymund Paredes

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board today announced the resignation of Higher Education Commissioner Raymund A. Paredes, effective Aug. 31, 2019.

“For the past 15 years Commissioner Paredes has provided passionate leadership for the Coordinating Board as he has diligently served Texas, our public higher education institutions, and most especially, the students in our public universities and two-year colleges,” said Coordinating Board Chair Stuart W. Stedman. “In my time on the board, he has helped me learn to identify, organize and prioritize issues that impact higher education as I drank from the firehose of information and data required to understand this complex subject. He was a driving force in attaining the goals of our previous strategic plan, Closing the Gaps by 2015, and is the state’s chief motivator as we strive to realize the goals of 60x30TX. Commissioner Paredes has been a role model in achieving the Coordinating Board mission as laid out by Gov. John Connally.”

In 1965 Gov. Connally stipulated that the Coordinating Board “...be the spokesman for higher education in Texas—to lend encouragement to our institutions, to praise their progress, support their steps to excellence, to applaud their imagination and initiative in imparting knowledge.”

Board Chair Stedman will lead the Coordinating Board’s search for a new commissioner of higher education.

Commissioner Paredes joined the Coordinating Board in 2004. According to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, he was the longest serving executive officer of a single state. Under his leadership the Coordinating Board has, among other things, reinvented developmental education across the state, launched the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate program at more than 10 institutions, and introduced outcomes-based funding to Texas public community and technical colleges. He has been instrumental in the Tri-Agency partnership with the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Workforce Commission to integrate education and the workforce, working to achieve Gov. Greg Abbott’s goal of helping Texas grow in economic prosperity.

“It has been an honor to work with Coordinating Board members, agency executive officers, and the talented staff, each of whom are committed to the mission of this agency and extending educational opportunity to students from all backgrounds,” Commissioner Paredes said. “In my next phase of life, I plan to continue supporting these efforts to improve higher education outcomes.”

Prior to joining the Coordinating Board, Dr. Paredes spent most of his academic career at UCLA where for 30 years he taught as an English professor and served 10 years as vice chancellor for Academic Development. In addition, he served as special assistant to the president of the University of California System in outreach efforts to improve access to higher education for students from educationally disadvantaged communities. He also served as director of creativity and culture at the Rockefeller Foundation and vice president for programs at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Dr. Paredes is a former member of the national board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters; was appointed to the Education Commission of the States by Gov. Rick Perry; served as a trustee of The College Board and Mercy College of New York and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Cultural Trust. In 2007, he was named one of Hispanic Business Magazine's 100 Most Influential Hispanics.