As president of Malcolm X College, this is the fourth career for David A. Sanders. He fell into education through a downturn in the economy in 2010 where he was the head of his own financial consulting firm and applied to become the facilities director at City Colleges of Chicago. He was quickly moved to the district office where Sanders led the transformation of the applicant tracking systems and ultimately managed the entire annual planning and budgeting process for the City Colleges of Chicago system.
Sanders was promoted to Deputy Chief Operating Officer in 2012 and ultimately president of Malcolm X College in 2018.
Malcolm X College, the largest of the seven City Colleges of Chicago, is a full-scale community college offering comprehensive liberal arts programming along with the largest stable of health science and nursing programs in the state of Illinois. Malcolm X College serves as the Center of Excellence for Healthcare Education for City Colleges of Chicago offering associate degrees, shorter-term certificate programs, free adult education classes and special interest courses.
Since his ascension to the post of president, Sanders has successfully led Malcolm X College to 10-year regional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission, eight years specialized accreditation of its premier nursing program, creation of the Institutional Effectiveness department and more than a 300 percent increase in its community, employer and advisory partnerships.
The college currently has its highest retention rate in its history and has expanded operations and grants budget from $34.5 million in 2015 to more than $76 million in 2022.
“Before his ascension to the Office of President, President Sanders was already a leader in the world of education through his ability to collaborate with all leaders, develop a strategic plan to ensure the success of the initiative, implement the strategy and ultimately successfully bring the project or program to completion,” said his staff. “He has continued to transcend expectations, obstacles, negative forces and limitations.”
Sanders envisions Malcolm X College to become the best college in the United States by pass rate and reputation. “He believes every student deserves a quality education no matter their background, origin, race, creed, color, religion or orientation,” said his staff. “He also believes that any and all barriers should be removed to allow each and every student access to education as well as the elimination of all barriers and weights that would inhibit students from being successful.”
For serving his students, staff and faculty with a zealous spirit for learning, Sanders has been named a titan.
