In 2017, Dr. Muddassir Siddiqi began his tenure as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Central College, one of the colleges under the Houston Community College System, located in Midtown Houston, and home to seven state-recognized Career and Technology programs, including the award-winning Fine Arts, Fashion Design, and Honors College programs. He has been active in creating collaborative and progressive initiatives alongside stellar teams at the district and college with local high schools, four-year institutions, business, and industry partners, and community-based organizations to create inclusive, diverse, and equitable opportunities for students. Specifically, during his tenure at Central, Dr. Siddiqi has been instrumental in adding two new workforce education facilities at two campuses and creating two pre-apprenticeship programs in construction trades for high school students to increase their participation in the regional workforce.
Dr. Siddiqi formerly served as the interim President and College Provost at Morton College, a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) located in the western suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Over the period of last 15 years, Dr. Siddiqi’s passion for the mission of the urban community college, coupled with equity-mindedness, has contributed to many accomplishments and innovative initiatives. During his tenure at Morton, through a well-structured shared governance model, Dr. Siddiqi led the successful reaccreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC); created a department chair structure; developed comprehensive student learning outcomes based on the LEAP model; built a successful integrated planning model to inform the budget-making process, and increased the percentage of minority faculty and staff in the total workforce. Prior to Morton, Dr. Siddiqi served as the Executive Director of Workforce Program at the City Colleges of Chicago where he was tasked by the District Chancellor to implement comprehensive workforce programs in partnership with large corporations and trade associations to help develop a talent pipeline of minority students. Dr. Siddiqi also worked at multinational, global corporations for 12 years where he managed multimillion-dollar projects in six countries.
Dr. Siddiqi has served in several positions at local, state, and national organizations. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors at the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), Board of Directors at the National Asian/Pacific Islander Council (NAPIC), and the Commissioner at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). He recently served at the American Association of Community College’s (AACC) Commission on Research, Data, and Accountability, Commission on Global Education, and as a member of the Executive Committee at NAACP-Houston. He is also on the board of directors at three key community-based organizations in the Greater Houston Area: Bridging the Digital Divide, South Main Alliance, and Career and Recovery Inc.
Dr. Siddiqi received his Ed.D. in Adult Education and Higher Education with a major in Human Resource Development from Northern Illinois University (NIU); a Master of Business Administration from Northern Alabama University (UNA); and a master’s in industrial technology from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He is a graduate of the Institute for Educational Management (IEM) at Harvard University, Executive Leadership Program at Cornell, Leadership Development Program at the National University of Singapore, and Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) at the League for Innovation in the Community College.
Dr. Siddiqi has a passion for teaching, and, over the past 15 years, he has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate-level courses at the University of Houston, Benedictine University, Ferris State University, and Governors State University. He has also extensively presented at national and international conferences and has been a prolific guest speaker at community and professional development events.