A highly respected higher education administrator and a first-generation college student born of immigrant parents, Dr. Cronin has served in community colleges for more than two decades. Before beginning her presidency at Delaware County Community College in July 2023, Dr. Cronin spent five years as president of Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, Oregon.
Dr. Cronin is the second woman and the first Latina to lead the College. Since her arrival her priorities have included providing greater accessibility to education to students in eastern Delaware County—via the future Southeast Center in Drexel Hill, Pa.—and in Chester County, where the College is expanding its offerings. She has focused on increasing high school dual enrollment with pilot programs such as the Teacher Education and Social Work programs for high school student. Passionate about inclusion, she has overseen the growth and expansion of the College’s Center for Equity and Social Justice as well as the College’s intercollegiate athletics programs She serves on the boards of the Chester County Economic Development Council and the Riverfront Alliance of Chester County.
Dr. Cronin served as co-chair of the Oregon Community College Association’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, co-chair of the Board for the Oregon League of Minority Voters and president of the Comunidades board, a bi-state organization dedicated to advocating for and empowering Latino women and youth in the region. She also served on the American Association of Community Colleges’ Commission on Small and Rural Colleges, as a commissioner for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and on former Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s Regional Solutions Advisory Committee.
Under Dr. Cronin’s leadership, Columbia Gorge Community College secured funding for a $16.4 million capital project, which led to the design and construction of the Columbia Gorge Regional Skills Center and Chinook Residence Hall on its main campus.
Prior to that Dr. Cronin served in administrative and faculty roles at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida, including vice president of Academic Affairs, dean of the School of Education, department chair and full professor. She also has more than a decade of K-12 teaching experience in Florida. While there Dr. Cronin served on several Florida Department of Education committees and advisory groups, as the Florida Delegate for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, and as a representative for the college on the Achieving the Dream Core Team and the American Association of Community Colleges' National Guided Pathways Project. She also has more than a decade of K-12 teaching experience in Florida. Among the awards Dr. Cronin has received over her 30-year career in education are a Phi Theta Kappa International Distinguished Advisor Award and a League for Innovation in the Community College Innovation of the Year Award.
Dr. Cronin holds a Doctor of Education with an emphasis on curriculum and instruction from the University of Sarasota, a Master of Science degree in Reading from Barry University and a bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Miami.