Adena Williams Loston, Ph.D.

Adena Williams Loston, Ph.D.

Dr. Loston serves as the 14th President of St. Philip’s College, our nation’s largest Historically Black College and Hispanic Serving Institution assuming the reins on March 1, 2007.  She is responsible for providing strategic leadership for over 21,000 students, two campuses, three military bases, four early college high schools, three Centers of Excellence, seven P-TECHS, 40 Dual Credit MOUs and over 100 degree and certificate programs.  Her structured leadership agenda includes strategic planning, institutional advancement, planning and budgeting assessment cycles, resource allocations processes, facilities master planning, resource development and organizational management oversight.   Through her leadership St. Philip’s College as one of the Alamo Colleges is recognized for the District’s National Malcolm Baldrige Award in 2024 and 2018 for Performance Excellence; the 2018 Texas Award for Performance Excellence; Great Place to Work; and the Most Promising Place to Work while providing oversight for $100M in budgets, 1,000 full and part-time employees and over $700M in new and renovated facilities. 

She previously served as the Chief Education Officer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at its Headquarters in Washington, DC. where she was responsible for the Educator Astronaut Program, NASA Explorer Schools and NASA Explorer Institutes.  She was also responsible for structuring the Education Enterprise Office, providing executive leadership, policy direction, functional management, and guidance in coordinating the Agency’s overall efforts to organize and enhance its educational investments and portfolio nationally and internationally for its Headquarter operations, mission directorates and 10 field centers, with responsibilities for a $230 million budget and directing policy for $1.3 billion. Dr. Loston also served as the Director of Education and Special Assistant for Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate for the Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility.

Academically, Dr. Loston has served as President of San Jacinto College South, Executive Dean/Provost in the El Paso Community College District, Dean of Vocational Education, Budgets and Facilities and Dean Professional Programs at Santa Monica College and has also served in other administrative/educational capacities for the past 50 years.

Dr. Loston has been a trailblazer in championing educational equity and excellence throughout her career.   Most notably in 2023 she was appointed by the U.S. President as a Commissioner to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans; and was a three-time appointee by the U.S. Secretaries of Education’s HBCU Capital Finance Advisory Committee.   She is the author of “The Ark of My Leadership Experiences.”  

She is a proud alumna of Alcorn State University and Bowling Green State University; received certificates from Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management and Oxford University and participated in the Leadership Journey at Wharton Business School.

Some of her recognitions include the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Malcolm Baldrige Foundation Educational Leadership Award, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Executive Leadership Award, the San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce Trailblazer Award, and the Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award for Leadership Excellence; the  Essential Leader Award; an Inductee into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame, UNCF Excellence in Education Award, Educational Trailblazer, Alcorn’s Woman of Courage Award and Named One of the Top 10 Most Dominant HBCU Leaders of 2021, the After School All Star Award, Higher Education Legacy Award and Leadership Legends Award.  She is twice the recipient of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s Shirley B. Gordon International Presidential Award of Distinction, a National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Inc., Educator’s Hall of Fame inductee.   She is the recipient of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Exceptional Achievement Award, the NASA Headquarters’ Exceptional Achievement Award, Group Achievement Awards for the Educator Astronaut Program, Centennial of Flight Team and NASA Explorer Schools Program and NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Award.