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Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement | Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis
Amanda Bonilla became the first person to hold her position at Ivy Tech Community College and built the new department in just 18 months. “I have made it my life’s work to advocate for inclusive learning spaces that provide accessible opportunities,” she told IBJ. Under her leadership, Ivy Tech reopened the Indianapolis campus’s Intercultural Center, launched a system-wide student diversity dashboard, created the Indy Women’s Initiative in partnership with Pass the Torch for Women and executed the first Equity Summit to focus on Black male retention in higher education. Additionally, Bonilla secured the title sponsorship for the Indiana Latino Institute’s Education Summit, resulting in the enrollment of 1,500 Hispanic students. Bonilla also runs Inclusion Consultant Network to provide training to corporations and organizations, such as the NCAA.
Getting here: Bonilla found her lane in higher education as a student activist leader and residential life counselor. After graduate school, she worked in multicultural affairs and student access at Clemson University and returned to Indiana in 2013 to run the Social Justice Education program at IUPUI. She transitioned into administration in 2020 as Ivy Tech’s first executive director for student diversity, equity and belonging and was promoted to her current role as vice chancellor in 2022.
First job: Detasseling corn. “Every summer from sixth grade until I went to college. I developed some of the most useful skills doing manual labor that I still use today.”
Givebacks: Board member, Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, United Way of Central Indiana, Project Stepping Stone, and Dress for Success
Passion project: Women Equity Brunch, a networking series that uses only women- and minority-owned vendors
Influential moment: When news of her current role became public, Bonilla was overwhelmed by the reaction from former students, community leaders, politicians and even strangers who contacted her. “It was in that moment I realized what it meant to be a young Latina vice chancellor at the largest community college in the country. It is not lost on me what I represent for my community, especially since less than 8% of Latinas in the U.S. hold a master’s degree.”
Advice: “Have a diverse group of friends and let them challenge you.”•
Check out more Forty Under 40 honorees.
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