Dr. Aidé Acosta went from a first-generation college student navigating higher education without a map to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Louis University. Her guiding line comes from her Sinaloan roots: like a turtle, she carries home on her back, and she has built her career making sure students never have to leave theirs behind.
In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Dr. Acosta, VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at National Louis University in Chicago, to talk about what it takes to build a genuinely student-centered institution across every campus and learning modality.
Aidé traces the arc from a childhood shaped by migration and family sacrifice to Southwestern College, UC Riverside, and a doctorate at the University of Illinois. She explains why so much of her work is about naming the invisible rules of higher education, the ones first-generation students are expected to already know, and why belonging is not a nice-to-have but the actual mechanism of student success.
They get into social mobility as multigenerational impact, why access without support is an empty promise, and how an institution keeps its mission consistent when students arrive through wildly different doors. Aidé is candid about carrying her community into every room she enters and what she wants her own child to inherit from that.
Tune in to hear why Aidé believes the deepest work in higher education is helping students succeed without asking them to leave home behind.
Chapters:
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01:37 Meet Dr. Aidé Acosta: first-generation student turned dean of students
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02:28 Why she carries home on her back like a turtle
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02:50 Sinaloan roots, migration, and the family that made the path
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08:14 Southwestern College to UC Riverside: learning the rules no one taught her
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26:41 Naming the invisible rules first-generation students are expected to know
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30:05 Why belonging is the mechanism of student success, not a nice-to-have
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34:59 Access without support is an empty promise
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40:18 Keeping one mission consistent across every campus and modality
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44:11 Social mobility as multigenerational impact and what she wants her child to inherit
Links:
Stay strong.
Episode 36