About Dr. De Filippis
Dr. De Filippis has been the President of Naugatuck Valley Community College since 2008. The hallmark of her presidency is a shared vision of community, student-centeredness, collaboration and civic engagement. Under her guidance, student retention has steadily risen and more than 1,000 awards (degrees and certificates) have been granted each year for the last seven years. NVCC’s Danbury Center, which began as a small location for non-credit opportunities, has expanded to a NECHE-accredited campus occupying more than 20,000 square feet, offering associate degree programs and non-credit opportunities. During President De Filippis’ tenure, the college moved to effect the reorganization of the fifth floor of the main building in Waterbury; extended library and tutoring hours to evenings and weekends; implemented college-wide mentoring, advising and job-readiness programs; worked with local and elected leadership to bring evening bus service to Waterbury; secured student-fee funded bus passes for credit students at both campuses; and established a Bridge to College office for high school students.
Under her leadership, NVCC recently completed a successful $1 million capital campaign, raising funds to outfit the College’s newly renovated Founders Hall Center for Health Sciences. In addition, she helped bring to the College $44 million dollars in state bond funding for construction of the College’s new Center for Health Sciences, $6.5 million dollars for campus-wide improvement projects, and $2 million dollars for technology and laboratories for the expansion of the Danbury Campus.
During her presidency, NVCC has been recognized for many achievements including selection as one of 150 community colleges invited to apply for the 2019 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, recognition as one of the top 25 community colleges nationwide that advances opportunities for low-income students (2015), and selection as a top-ten national finalist for the 2019 Bellwether Award in workforce development. Additionally, the College has hosted four Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence during President De Filippis’ tenure, and will apply for a fifth time this coming fall to host another scholar in 2020-2021. In December 2018, the Connecticut Association of Latinos in Higher Education (CALAHE) honored President De Filippis with a Lifetime Achievement Award and recognized NVCC for its achievements as a designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI.)
Prior to coming to NVCC, Dr. De Filippis served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY). She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish language and a M. Phil. in Spanish literature from the Graduate School and University Center of CUNY, an M.A. in Spanish literature and a B.A. in Spanish and English literatures from Queens College, CUNY. A published author and literary critic, her scholarly work is recognized internationally as pioneering the field of Dominican women studies and Dominican authors in the U.S. In 2016, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Humanities by the University of Santo Domingo, the oldest university in the Americas, in recognition of her contributions to Dominican, Caribbean and Dominican Diaspora literature. In May 2017, President De Filippis was honored by Hostos Community College as Educator of the Year at their annual Scholarship Benefit, she was inducted as a member of the Connecticut’s Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame in September 2018, and was recently honored by Malta House of Care as one of their 2019 Wonder Women.
President De Filippis serves on the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System (CTECS) High School Board, the Prospect Waterbury Local Advisory Board, the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, the advisory board of the Dominican Studies Institute at City College, CUNY and on the Board of the Dominican Studies Association. She is a regular panelist at the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Wellesley Conference where she provides leadership and career advice to approximately sixty women each spring. She recently completed nine-year terms of service on the Board of Directors for the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Greater Waterbury. (May, 2019)