Black & Latinx Student Achievement Awards

Dr. Santiago held the positions of Vice President of Administration and Finance at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, MA, The College of Staten Island, and Westfield State University in MA. Dr. Santiago spent a great portion of his career working at Lehman College, the CUNY senior college in the Bronx, where he held several positions and founded the Office of Governmental Relations and External Affairs. He was instrumental in connecting the institution to the wider Bronx community, including school districts, health, community, and arts organizations.

Dr. Santiago was a successful advocate for higher education with government officials, obtaining over $100 million for capital construction and improvements at Lehman College during his tenure. He later became President of the Bronx Information Network (BIN), a consortium founded to provide initial internet connectivity to Bronx agencies. BIN was funded by a $3 million grant from NYNEX.

While at Lehman College, he served with several national higher education associations such as EDUCAUSE, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), the National Association of Student Personnel Association (NASPA), the National Association of College and Universities Business Officers (NACUBO), as well as the American Council of Education (ACE).

Dr. Santiago is passionate about issues of social and economic justice. This was reflected in his service as a member of the Bronx Initiative Corporation (BIC), the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of the Board of the Bronx Council for Economic Development (BCED). Under his leadership, the BCED established the Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID).

Dr. Santiago is a proud graduate of the Educational Opportunity Program at Binghamton University, where he pursued a double major in Latin American Studies and Sociology. He then received a scholarship from the National Institute of Mental Health to attend New York University, where he obtained a master’s degree in social work. He obtained his doctorate in Higher Education Administration Leadership at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

In 1993, the year of the 25th Anniversary of the Educational Opportunity Program, he was selected as one of the twenty-five Outstanding EOP Alumni for the first Quarter Century of EOP. He is also very proud of having met three US Presidents.