Student Spotlight: Raquel Cotuno
Tell us a little bit about yourself. When did you decide to pursue education and what drew you to this field?
I started my professional journey in Arizona in the counseling field. I spent over ten years in counseling when I decided to move to Illinois to pursue a career in education. I started working with the president of a community college as her executive assistant and then later transitioned to administration. What drew me to education is my passion to work with Hispanic students in a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). I saw myself in our students and wanted to ensure that I was able to contribute to their success. In addition to my role as administrator, I volunteer as a mentor for women of color. I mentor Hispanic students enrolled in the SURGE (Sisterhood of Undergraduate Representing Great Excellence) program which provides academic support, one- on-one mentoring and other services designed to help female minority students be successful in college.
How and why did you decide to enroll in NLU’s Higher Education Leadership program?
After extensive research, NLU was my top choice for four reasons: method of delivery, program focus, time to completion and cost. The executive cohort was perfect for my busy schedule. Classes were offered on Saturday’s and I was done by noon. I still had the entire day to spend with family and do homework. Additionally, I was looking for a doctoral program that focused on learning about both community colleges and four-year universities. Many doctoral programs focused on one or the other, not both. The time to completion was very critical for me. The program could be completed in three years if I attended full time which meant taking two courses every ten weeks. In addition, the cost was reasonable compared to other universities. I found that NLU had the best per-credit hour cost.
How has the Higher Education Leadership program shaped your professional perspectives?
At the time I started NLU, I had a formal education in the counseling field and 5 years of experience in the education field. Although I am confident in the educational setting, I wanted to bridge my current experience with formal education. I noticed more and more connections with the experiences I had gained from working at a community college and with the theories behind why we do what we do. I was able to piece information together more effectively and have well-rounded knowledge.
Would you give us an example of how you’ve applied a skill or concept you learned from your coursework to your professional practice?
In my role in grants compliance, understanding finances and budgeting techniques are an essential skill. My Finance and Budgeting course had concrete examples of how to read finances in higher education. Specifically for me working in a community college, my instructor distributed actual finance sheets from a community college to read and understand. All the examples provided in class were always real scenarios and contextualized.
What do you love most about your job?
As a community college administrator, the best thing about my job is providing guidance and support to faculty as they implement their grant funded projects on campus. Although I work behind the scenes to ensure students are successful, I always keep students at the forefront in my decision making and we always ensure the appropriate funding and resources are allocated to students. When grants are written and implemented, we strategically ensure we use data and the students’ voice to guide our initiatives.
What’s a piece of advice you would offer to aspiring educators?
The “we’ve always done it that way” mentality is a thing of the past. The pandemic has taught us that we can be flexible in the way we do things and we can be successful at it. I’ve seen so many good changes my college has implemented and students have really benefited from those changes. Let’s be flexible and open minded about future changes in higher education.
