{"id":14098,"date":"2026-01-07T20:23:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-pcc-southwest-vp-lisa-molina-highlights-love-of-community-and-students\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:43:49","slug":"new-pcc-southwest-vp-lisa-molina-highlights-love-of-community-and-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-pcc-southwest-vp-lisa-molina-highlights-love-of-community-and-students\/","title":{"rendered":"New PCC Southwest VP Lisa Molina highlights love of community and students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lisa
Lisa Molina will begin her position as Pueblo Community College Southwest\u2019s new vice president starting on Monday, Jan. 5. (PCC Southwest\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Lisa Molina began her role Monday as Pueblo Community College Southwest\u2019s new vice president. She previously served as PCC\u2019s director of student services and has worked at the college since 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a career move for me, I genuinely love this community,\u201d Molina said. She added that watching students arrive uncertain and graduate as nurses, teachers and mechanics is deeply rewarding. Her goal is to keep building an environment where they can thrive and strengthen the region.<\/p>\n

Molina joined PCC Southwest in 2018 and was named employee of the year in 2024. As director of student services, she oversaw student support, enrollment strategies and regional partnerships. She brings 15 years of experience in student success, advising and higher education leadership.<\/p>\n

A native of Mio, Michigan, Molina is a first-generation college graduate. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science from Alma College and a master\u2019s in higher education administration and philanthropy and fundraising from Central Michigan University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe every student can make a difference and sometimes just reminding them of that is enough to empower them to do more than they imagined,\u201d Molina said. She noted that her experience as a first-generation student from a rural area drives her commitment to helping others navigate education and career paths.<\/p>\n

She called the vice president role a natural next step in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve built strong relationships with our students, faculty, staff and community partners, and I care deeply about Southwest\u2019s future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She shared her priorities as VP, highlighting her vision for the next five to 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s improving retention, expanding pathways, or strengthening our campus identity, I\u2019m invested in that work and I want to provide the stability and leadership our campus deserves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Molina highlighted her love of the community, where she is now raising her family, and her desire to see PCC students thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just where I work, it\u2019s where I\u2019m raising my family, where our students become the professionals who take care of us, teach our kids and keep our community running,\u201d Molina said. \u201cI want the community to feel that PCC Southwest is a steady, reliable partner that plans thoughtfully and is committed to long-term growth and opportunity for everyone we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interim Vice President Kevin Aten will continue through Jan. 30 to help with the transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

worked for PCC since 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,155,28,60,29,572,691],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-14098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-pueblo-community-college","tag-pueblo-community-college-southwest-campus"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19326,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14098\/revisions\/19326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14098"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=14098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}