Carlota Del Portillo
Dr. Carlota del Portillo has been a teacher, a counselor and a college dean. She received her doctoral degree from the University of San Francisco. Dr. del Portillo led the Mission Community’s effort to establish a permanent home for the Mission Campus of City College in San Francisco – to provide equitable access to post-secondary education. She retired as Dean of the Mission Campus, where she supervised the instructional program for 8,000 students, 133 faculty and 28 classified employees for several decades.
Dr. del Portillo’s service to San Francisco included serving on the Human Rights Commission, the Fire Commission, and the Library Commission. She also served for 11 years on the Civil Service Commission, where she cast the deciding vote to integrate the Fire Department and later had the pleasure of welcoming the first female Fire Chief, Joanne Hayes-White. Dr. del Portillo was the first Latina to win citywide election, without first being appointed to the position, when she won her seat on the San Francisco Unified School Board in 1990.
As Dean of the Mission Campus, Dr. del Portillo opened the doors of opportunity and educational equity to thousands of San Franciscans. In 2006, in recognition of her lifelong commitment to furthering the cause of social justice, the California Rural Legal Assistance honored her with the prestigious Jesse de la Cruz community Activist and Service Award. Dr. del Portillo’s many special awards include: The Riley Center Leadership Award, Leadership in Domestic Prevention; the Edward J. Griffin Award, School of Education, University of San Francisco; “Our Community Finest” Award for Outstanding Leadership, Latino Democratic Club; President’s Medallion, University of San Francisco; Centro Legal de la Raza Award in recognition rendered in the Latino Community
Dr. del Portillo has served on numerous boards and for over four decades has served on the Mission Hiring Board of Directors. In 2010 she founded the Friends of the Mission Campus to make college a reality now for Mission Neighborhood youth.