Amelia Ortiz
Associate Director
Amelia Ortiz serves as the Associate Director of the Carnegie Elective Classifications at the American Council on Education. In this role she provides day-to-day support for the operations and administration of the Carnegie Elective Classifications. She has over fifteen years of experience working in various higher education positions, specifically focusing on developing retention and completion initiatives in Adult Education and Student Development. Amelia earned a Doctorate in Community College Leadership (DCCL) from Ferris State University. She earned a Master of Science in Communication and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. There, she participated and worked in the McNair Scholars Program as an undergraduate and taught Communication 101 as an undergraduate degree.
Amelia brings a strong commitment to community service to her professional roles. As an undergraduate, she facilitated the Children’s Activities at the Whitewater Community Garden, which provided land for those who did not have access to growing their own food. She has served as a mentor to incoming employees participating in employee resource groups. In addition, she volunteers as a mentor for high-achieving high school students from under-resourced communities.
During her tenure at William Rainey Harper College, Amelia was involved in training her peers to support the LGBTQIA community as allies and participated in several committees throughout campus on Finance, Basic Needs, Strategic planning, and numerous other groups. She authored and spear-headed a project, Proyecto de Apoyo- Superando Obstaculos/Project Achievement-Surpassing Obstacles Initiative (PASO), which is an initiative focused on the families and supporters of incoming Latinx/Hispanic students on how to navigate the college system. She was selected as the employee TEDTalk speaker at Harper College in 2019; the theme was “Being Extraordinary,” and she shared how education transformed the trajectory of her life as an adult learner. While living in San Diego, CA, she worked at Ashford University as an Admissions Counselor Lead and volunteered at a local elementary school, tutoring students.
Amelia has participated in numerous organizations like the Truth Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) program that discussed strategies to build relationships, trust, and collective power at the community and institutional levels. Her passion revolves around amplifying the voices of those from marginalized populations.