Alumna named executive vice chancellor and provost of CUNY

Alumna Alicia M. Alvero ’96 first fell in love with higher education at FIU.

A first-generation college student and the daughter of Cuban refugees, Alvero is one of many Panthers who was raised in Miami and came to FIU seeking opportunities for a fulfilling career and increased social mobility.

Today, she is the executive vice chancellor and provost of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s largest urban public university. As CUNY’s chief academic officer, Alvero oversees every aspect of the student and faculty academic experience and works together with thousands of administrators and faculty members.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I was going to be in this massive role,” Alvero says. “My journey was shaped by people who saw something in me and gave me an opportunity to succeed. I want to give back.  I want to mentor, and I want to be a great example, a thought leader, a partner to faculty and staff. I know the power of public higher education.”

Two pillars of her leadership style: humility and authenticity.

“I never ever want to forget what it was like to be a student,” she says, “and I never want to forget what it was like to be a faculty member. I don’t take my role lightly. It’s an honor, and I work hard to create a comfortable environment. I always take into account people’s feedback and ideas.”

Panther journey

She says FIU set her up for success.

“FIU shaped the trajectory of my entire future because of the professors, what I learned, the opportunities I found,” Alvero says. “The Honors program was absolutely amazing. FIU is where I came out of my shell. I was so shy. I took a public speaking course at FIU, and it was the best public speaking course I took in my life. I loved everything about my experiences at FIU.”

She fondly recalls enjoying student events at the Graham Center Pit, grabbing food at what was then known as Gracie’s Grill and experiencing the energy of college life at FIU. 

A dedicated student who loved learning and worked as an undergraduate research assistant in an FIU lab, Alvero relished engaging in scholarship. She credits FIU professors with helping her develop her critical thinking skills — skills that propelled her to build an accomplished career.

She vividly recalls various classes that changed her life. Among them are an Honors College seminar that taught her to dive into critical thinking and analysis; an English course in which she conducted research and wrote a complex report about a psychological disorder; and an applied behavioral analysis course that transformed her career — and led to her first job.

“I fell in love with the science of behavior, how environmental factors can shape a person and their learning,” Alvero recalls.

She promptly asked her professor to help her learn more about the field. Then-FIU faculty member Steven Starin is also the founder and president of a behavior analysis company serving people with autism, intellectual disabilities and other behavioral disorders. He encouraged her to apply for a job at his company. She did and was hired.

After working full-time at the company for several years, Alvero — who had already graduated from FIU — eventually travelled across the country to earn her graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in organizational behavior management from Western Michigan University.

Rise to the top

Alvero has been serving CUNY in a variety of roles for more than two decades.

First, she served as a faculty member of organizational psychology at Queens College in New York. After earning tenure, Alvero took on more administrative duties to support the psychology department. She discovered she could use her organizational psychology background and research to address some of the challenges and efficiency issues facing the department at the time.

Her work transforming the college’s largest department caught the eye of Queens College leaders. The president and provost of the college at the time asked her if she would be interested in leading that kind of organizational analysis at a college-wide level. Her career as an administrator took off.

She was later invited to join the central CUNY administration team, and has since led key initiatives at CUNY, including a complex, university-wide initiative in which she spoke with hundreds of administrators and built partnerships across CUNY to fortify the strengths and address the weaknesses of the credit-transferring system that at the time posed challenges for students transferring from one CUNY institution to the other.

One of Alvero’s inspirations to success: her mom, who always encouraged her to pursue her dreams and embrace higher education. Her mom is also the one who influenced Alvero to start her higher education at FIU.

“I’m forever grateful to my mom,” she says.

Today, the dream that began at FIU to make a positive difference in the world continues to propel Alvero forward.

“So much of the mission of FIU is here in CUNY,” she says. “I became a professor, and I love teaching and higher education. I know I’m helping change the lives of these students the way FIU changed mine.”