Dr. Maria V. Boccalandro, is a sustainable urban planner with a masters degree in urban transportation and a Ph.D. in political science. She is serving as Dallas College’s Dean of Special Academic Programs. She was formerly the Director of Sustainability and Programs in the Office of Advancement of Cedar Valley campus (CV) of the Dallas College (DC) and also worked for the DC Sustainability Team. She was in charge of planning, developing, coordinating and administrating the sustainability awareness projects and fundraising initiatives with internal and external stakeholders. She led a multi-stakeholder sustainable economic development planning process, creating opportunities for DC and Yale University students to participate in high impact practices to increase college retention and completion, that won the CV 2017-2018 Innovation of the Year award. She also served at CV as the Interim Dean of Instructional Support and Distance Education, coordinating faculty and employee led teams to produce an online plan and professional development plan for CV.
Dr. Boccalandro has thirty years of experience teaching associate, bachelor and postgraduate courses in community colleges and universities in the US and Latin America. She is the recipient of the CV 2019 Adjunct Excellence Teaching Award. For twenty years she was an entrepreneur, co-founding and leading an international consulting firm dedicated to support her clients in strategic planning, organizational development, project management, coaching and workforce training. She came to the US in 2007 with an Investment Visa to open the US branch of her Venezuelan consulting firm, she is now a US citizen. She was selected as a finalist for the 2019 Immigrant Journey Award and won the Ford Foundation 2019 “Mujer Legendaria” Award for her leadership and contributions in sustainable development.
Dr. Boccalandro is now serving as an Environmental Commissioner for the City of Dallas, in charge of implementing the Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Action Plan (CECAP). In the past she has served as a board member of Groundwork Dallas, the Environment & Sustainability Task Force of the city of Dallas, the Future Opportunities of Alternative Residential Development Commission of the city of Coppell, Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas- HWNT (Dallas Chapter), Toastmasters (DC Talks Chapter), Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic outreach Ministry of Faith and Finance at St. Ann Catholic Parish and the Venezuelan Women’s Association, where she was elected President and under her leadership this organization was admitted to the Organization of American States (OAS).