Long-time Houston Community College administrator Margaret Ford Fisher, Ed.D., is an impassioned leader committed to making a difference by transforming the lives of people through education.

She began her tenure as the ninth Chancellor of Houston Community College on January 24, 2024, after serving as HCC’s Interim Chancellor since September 1, 2023. In this role, Dr. Ford Fisher has made tremendous strides in leading her staff in providing real-world education to allow students to succeed in life, their work and in their communities.

A partner with Texas Black Expo for nearly a decade, Dr. Ford Fisher and HCC have received honors at our Corporate Awards Luncheon and supported TBE’s various education- and community-focused initiatives to better the lives of young people.

From 2018-2023, Dr. Ford Fisher served as founding president of HCC Online College, leading to the establishment of more than 60 fully online degrees and 70 hybrid programs, building an enrollment of more than 62,000 students.

Previously, she served 20 years as HCC Northeast College president. There, she led two successful capital campaigns and community support for HCC District annexation. She led development of new, leading-edge STEM energy and biotechnology programs, secured federal and state grants and philanthropic support, and brokered industry relationships that led to high-tech, stackable-certificate programs, state-of-the art facilities, and an enrollment of 14,000 students.

Since joining HCC in 1985, Dr. Ford Fisher has served in leadership roles, including Interim Vice Chancellor of Instruction, Associate Vice Chancellor of Academics, Dean of Instruction, Division Chair of Arts and Humanities, and English Chair and professor.

She has also taught at Texas Southern University, the University of Houston, and Wichita High School South. She was an assistant professor of Intercultural Communications and International Relations at Wichita State University (Kansas) for nine years. Dr. Ford Fisher has been a lifelong advocate for education locally, nationally, and internationally.

Dr. Ford Fisher’s awards and honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Honorable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee at the Rice University Community Forum upon her 2012 publication, Learning for Ownership. She has also received a Senior Education Advisor designation by the Honorable Rodney Ellis, former State Senator, as well as the LULAC Council 42 Appreciation Award, the W. E. B. DuBois Award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators, the District Award of Merit from the Sam Houston Council of Boy Scouts of America-Antares District, and the Visionary Leaders Award from the Northeast College faculty and staff.

Dr. Ford Fisher has authored more than 50 publications and four books, including the first book on high school dual credit, High School Students Earning College Credit: Guide to Creating Dual Credit Programs (1996).

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, a Master of Arts in the Teaching of English from Wichita State University and a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Houston.

Texas Black Expo values and appreciates our relationship with Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher and Houston Community College and looks forward to a continued, thriving partnership in the future.

For more information on Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher, click here.