Diego "James" Navarro's commitment to social change grew, in part, from his work as a community organizer for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker humanitarian aid organization, while still in college.
Diego Navarro founded the Academy for College Excellence (ACE) in 2002 and is an Emeritus Professor at Cabrillo College after 16 years of teaching at this Hispanic-Serving community college. He helps colleges improve their teaching and learning through delivering professional development workshops, and supporting the redesign of courses to incorporate affective / non-cognitive approaches and embed 21st century skills development. ACE has been studied extensively and replicated at numerous colleges.
Navarro received an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at Stanford during his 2015 sabbatical year. He currently serves as a Coach in the Aspen Institute and National Center for Inquiry and Improvement implementation project serving 11 community colleges, 5 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 5 four-year Hispanic Serving Institutions funded by the Bank of America Foundation. He also serves on the selection committee of the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. He has served as a Coach on the California Guided Pathways Project 1.0.
Navarro has been training faculty in affective learning approaches since 2006 when he was funded by the James Irvine Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to replicate ACE. Navarro also developed the Five-day Experiential Learning Institute (FELI) to teach faculty and staff how to have embodied interactions and employ non-cognitive learning activities in their classrooms to support psychological safety in students. Over 1,500 faculty and staff from more than 90 institutions have participated in these FELIs.
The experiential learning courses he developed for students have been taught both in classrooms and online. His affective online course has enrollment of over 1,500 students per month and has served over 60,000 students.
Diego received the American Association of Community College Trustees, William H. Meardy National Faculty Award in 2009 after receiving the Pacific Regional Award. Diego’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and other nationally-known funders. Diego earned a graduate degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business where he performed research with Rosabeth Moss Kanter and J Richard Hackman, has years of experience in social science research at Hewlett Packard Laboratories which he utilized in the design of ACE, and led two high-tech start-up companies.
Diego began his higher education at his local community college in Southern California, Pasadena City College. While earning his A.A. degree, he supported himself as a Computer Support Specialist at Bank of America. He holds a B.A. in Computer Systems and Business Administration from Antioch University, and a Masters Degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business.
He currently lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he enjoys spending time with his family and playing jazz piano.
Learn More About MY BACKGROUND
When Diego presents, he begins by sharing his story. Learn more about how Diego came to be where he is today by following the three section paths below:
