Name:

Michelle Aguilar-Ong

Home Institution:

Mabalacat City College

Host Institution:

Florida State University

Award Name:

Fullbright Visiting Scholar for Advanced Research 

Award Year:

2024

Bio / Write-up:

Dr. Michelle Aguilar-Ong is currently the President of Mabalacat City College (MCC). She will be a visiting scholar for advanced research at Florida State University (FSU) about US Community College Accreditation. Dr. Ong firmly believes in inclusivity, access, and equity in education; hence, under her leadership, MCC has fully embraced the community college model. Since then, it has become a benchmark destination because of socially inclusive programs such as ProPlus for working and students with disabilities, the First-Generation for families without college graduates, the I-Peace for indigenous communities, and the Life-Long Learning for adults seeking workforce reintegration, along with the comprehensive student support services she introduced. Some of these pioneering programs have received recognition from the Times Higher Education Awards Asia in 2021 and 2024. 

Her undergraduate degree is in Behavioral Sciences from the University of the Philippines. Her master's and doctorate degrees are in public administration. She trained in the US Department of State Community College Administrators Program at FSU and holds a Certificate for Curriculum Development from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. 

Dr. Aguilar-Ong, upon her return, would like to establish quality assurance mechanisms to help advance community college as a typology in Philippine higher education.