Women hold 25% of Florida’s top state college posts

St. Pete campus gets 1st female president, also 1st black in role.

With the selection of new presidents at Polk State College and St. Petersburg College, women now hold a quarter of the presidencies of Florida’s 28 state colleges.

The Polk State Board of Trustees last week selected Angela Garcia Falconetti as the school’s fifth president, succeeding Eileen Holden, who is retiring. Falconetti is currently a vice president at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va.

The St. Petersburg College Board of Trustees appointed Tonjua Williams as the school’s seventh president, succeeding William Law, who is retiring. Williams, a senior vice president who has served three decades at the college, will be St. Petersburg’s first woman and first African-American president.

Although Falconetti replaces a woman, Williams’ appointment represents an advancement in diversity for the system, where 59 percent of the students in fall 2015 were women.

The two new presidents join Sarah Clemmons, who was appointed president this year at Chipola College in Marianna in the Panhandle; Cynthia Bioteau at Florida State College at Jacksonville; Ava Parker at Palm Beach State College; Ann McGee at Seminole State College in Sanford; and Carol Probstfeld at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

Madeline Pumariega is the chancellor of the state college system.

With 25 percent of the college presidencies held by women, Florida has plenty of room to increase its diversity.

But according to the American Council on Education, the Florida state college system is facing a diversity challenge similar to other higher-education systems across the country. Only 26 percent of college and university presidencies in the U.S. were held by women, although women represented 57 percent of the students, based on the 2011 academic year, the analysis showed.

The leadership of Florida state colleges is more diverse than the state university system, where only two of the 12 presidents are women.

Although men hold the majority of the university presidencies, women constituted 56 percent of the enrollment at state universities last fall, according to the Florida Board of Governors.