Influential Woman · Higher education

Torrie Costantino

Program Manager Academic Affairs, Colorado Community College System

3Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor of Arts in English Degree Master of Science in Family and Human Development Degree Educational Doctorate in Higher Education (in progress) Member Association of Career and Technical Education Member UPSEA (professional and continuing education association) Member Phi Kappa Phi

Her Story

About Torrie

I run the Colorado Skills Institute, where I handle all things academic affairs. I choose all of our programming and work with third-party vendors such as the Project Management Institute to offer their certifications. My work involves collaborating with organizations statewide, including the Colorado Workforce Development Council, to fill workforce gaps. We focus on the online asynchronous piece because we understand adult learners have busy lives, and we're finding ways to help them fit education into their lives rather than the other way around. One of my most notable achievements was my time at Utah Valley University, where I served as their Pathways Coordinator. I worked with over 20 different programs across that campus, developing transfer and articulation agreements so students could get credit for what they've already done instead of repeating coursework. I focused on building stackable pathways from the K-12 level through dual enrollment courses, ensuring students receive meaningful credit that stacks into their degrees rather than just elective credit.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Torrie

01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

One of the challenges I've always had is I tend to be one of the younger people at the table, and I've also got kind of a younger look due to a genetic condition. Coming in as a leader, as an influential woman, it's a very difficult space to still be in, despite all the work that's been done for the past century for women's rights. Millennials come with all this stigma, so I have to get other people to put faith in me and actually get them to listen to me. That's one of the biggest challenges I think I'm always going to face. But the biggest thing, because I work in education, everything is changing so much, and there's so little value that people are seeing now in degrees. It's really figuring out how we innovate to meet the learner where they're at, and meet the industries where they're at, so that they still see us as something of value.

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