Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
Félix V. Matos Rodríguez is the eighth chancellor of The City University of New York, serving 247,000 degree-seeking students across 26 New York City colleges with an operating budget of $4.1 billion. As Chancellor, he has focused on advancing systemwide career opportunities through industry partnerships, eliminating barriers in the transfer process and reducing costs to improve retention and graduation rates for students. These priorities feature prominently in the University’s strategic roadmap, CUNY Lifting New York, adopted in 2023.
In the Media
(am New York, Feb. 9, 2026)
(am New York, Jan. 6, 2026)
(am New York, Dec. 3, 2025)
Communications
Recognition
(PoliticsNY & am New York Metro)
(City & State New York)
(City & State New York)
(City & State New York)
(PoliticsNY & am New York Metro)
(PoliticsNY & am New York Metro)
(City & State New York)
2023 Foreign Policy Association Medal (Foreign Policy Association)
(City & State New York)
(PoliticsNY)
(City & State New York)
Social Media
His historic appointment in May 2019 made him the first educator of color and the first Latino to lead the nation’s largest urban university. He is also one of a select few U.S. education leaders who has led both a baccalaureate and a community college: Matos Rodríguez previously served as president of CUNY’s Queens College and Hostos Community College.
He has made it a key priority to build and advocate for career pipelines for students and graduates. During his tenure CUNY has launched a series of new public-private partnerships, including the New York Jobs CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs from 28 of New York’s largest employers, and CUNY Futures in Finance, part of the University’s goal of connecting all CUNY graduates to careers by 2030. Additional efforts include placing students in public and nonprofit sector summer jobs via CUNY Career Launch and providing in-demand skills training through CUNY Upskilling.
Under the Chancellor’s leadership, the University has revamped its academic offerings to better serve its students. CUNY overhauled the transfer process to establish a seamless transfer of credits for CUNY students moving from an associate to a bachelor’s degree within the same major, saving time and money for thousands of students. To increase access and add flexibility, CUNY has expanded the number of online degree programs with a goal of doubling these offerings by 2030. The University has also expanded its programs in Black, Race and Ethnic Studies (BRES), developing New York’s first multidisciplinary graduate program in BRES.
Matos Rodríguez has also championed an increase in private fundraising, a focus that yielded the three largest gifts in CUNY’s history. These generous gifts include $75 million from the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International, which earmarked $50 million to establish CUNY as a hub for computational science and $25 million to support CUNY’s participation in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s .
As the rising cost of tuition raises questions about the value of a college degree, CUNY has worked to expand access to high quality, affordable higher education; its annual tuition (under $5,000 for community colleges and under $7,000 for senior colleges) remains among the most affordable in the nation. In 2022, it ended a long-held policy that banned CUNY colleges from releasing the official transcripts of students and graduates who owed the University unpaid tuition and fees. During the pandemic, the Chancellor erased more than $100 million in owed tuition and fees for more than 57,000 students through the CUNY Comeback program, at the time the country’s largest debt-forgiveness initiative of its kind.
Matos Rodríguez has also used his extensive regional and national networks and board memberships to advance the visibility and recognition of CUNY. In 2024, he was elected to serve as chair of the board of directors of the American Council on Education, the major coordinating body for the nation’s colleges and universities. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the boards of the Association for a Better New York, Phipps Houses and the United Way of New York City. The Chancellor also serves as co-chair of the New York City Regional Economic Development Council and is the former chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
From 2006 to 2008, Matos Rodríguez served on Puerto Rico’s Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Family Services, overseeing a $2.3 billion budget and over 11,000 employees.
Matos Rodríguez has an extensive publication record in the fields of women’s, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latino and migration studies. He was the founding editor of the series New Directions in Puerto Rican Studies and the recipient of the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.
A cum laude graduate in Latin American studies from Yale University, Matos Rodríguez received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. He has taught at half a dozen institutions, including CUNY’s City College and Hunter College, Yale and Northeastern University. At Hunter, he directed the , one of the largest and most important Latino research centers in the United States.
He is married to Dr. Liliana M. Arabía, a dentist, and they have two sons.
Highlights
The Chancellor announces $12.3 million in city funding to lease the historic Bronx General Post Office for use as an expanded life sciences facility for Hostos Community College. The space will feature modern instructional labs, lab support areas, faculty offices, general classrooms, student spaces and campus services.
The CUNY School of Medicine officially becomes a standalone medical school and the University’s 26th constituent college. The school’s elevation allows for the advancement of its dual mandate to produce diverse medical professionals and provide quality high quality health services to underserved communities.
The Chancellor leads his State of the University Address with the announcement that CUNY had its second consecutive year where enrollment increased, totaling 12,400 additional students over the two years — a post-pandemic rebound driven especially by increases at the University’s community colleges.
The Chancellor announces that the University received a record-high $672 million in external funding for research and sponsored programs during the previous fiscal year as the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center marked its 10th anniversary. CUNY also raises a record-breaking $4.1 million during the GivingTuesday nationwide day of giving, capping a year of generosity for the University that led it to twice break its record for the largest donation it received.
CUNY becomes one of the first universities in the nation to designate Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Lunar New Year and Diwali as holidays on the official academic calendar. The move aligns the University with New York City Public Schools.
CUNY becomes a founding member of Empire AI, a statewide consortium created by Governor Kathy Hochul to establish New York as the national leader in artificial intelligence research focused on the public good. The University’s participation is funded by one of the largest gifts in CUNY’s history.
CUNY partners with NYC Public Schools to transform the college application process. The Chancellor distributes personalized “Welcome to CUNY” letters to 65,000 public high school seniors and waives the application fee for those students during New York State College Application Month.
CUNY unveils the $95 million Lehman College Nursing Education, Research and Practice Center, an investment that enables the school to triple the capacity of its highly ranked RN to BSN nursing program as New York prepares to address a statewide nursing shortage.
The Chancellor releases “CUNY Lifting New York,” the University’s 2023-2030 strategic plan to transform into the nation’s foremost student-centered university system by the end of the decade.
CUNY kicks off the Spring 2023 semester by welcoming back 14,000 students who re-enrolled through CUNY Reconnect, which engages students who withdrew from college before they earned a degree.
The Chancellor joins Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to announce plans for SPARC Kips Bay, a first-of-its-kind innovation hub for New York that will include state-of-the-art facilities for CUNY SPH, Hunter College and BMCC.
Chancellor Matos Rodríguez kicks off the celebration of the University’s 175th anniversary with the Empire State Building shining in CUNY blue on May 7, exactly 175 years after the Free Academy received its charter.
The Chancellor launches the DNA Learning Center NYC, a partnership between Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and CUNY hosted at New York City College of Technology, adding 18,000 square feet of specialized labs for students’ classes, as well as for 30,000 NYC students in middle and high schools.
The Chancellor launches the CUNY Comeback Program, one of the nation’s largest student debt forgiveness plans of its kind, forgiving up to $125 million in outstanding tuition and fee balances accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic for at least 52,000 students. CUNY also ends the policy of withholding transcripts from students and graduates who owe the University unpaid tuition and fees, following the Chancellor’s temporary suspension of the policy in August 2021.
The Chancellor challenges the CUNY familia to #VaxUpCUNY, getting vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, as two mass vaccination sites at Medgar Evers College and York College administer over 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines to New Yorkers in the first three weeks.
Along with 27 CEOs from some of the New York area’s largest employers, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez launches the New York Jobs CEO Council. The Council aims to hire 100,000 traditionally underserved New Yorkers — including 25,000 CUNY students — by 2030.
CUNY launches CUNY Futures in Finance, an ambitious workforce development initiative to cultivate and train CUNY students for careers in the financial industry in partnership with financial firms Bloomberg LP, Centerbridge Partners and Goldman Sachs.
“The ground beneath us may shift, but our commitment to the equity, inclusion and excellence needed to sustain New York City’s standing as a world-class city will never, ever waver.”
The Chancellor celebrates the class of 2020 with a special virtual commencement for the uniquely resilient graduates during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, joining college presidents and deans, elected officials and guest stars to cheer on these students, earning .
CUNY launches the to provide urgent aid to students who are facing financial hardship amid the COVID-19 crisis. The fund, launched with $3.25 million in initial donations, distributes grants of $500 each to thousands of CUNY students, regardless of their immigration and citizenship status.
To protect the health and safety of students, faculty and staff in the face of COVID-19, to maintain academic continuity, safeguard students’ ability to finish the semester and protect their financial aid.
