Spotlight on Trustee John-Michael Cortez

John-Michael Cortez was elected to place two of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees this May and has many plans for ACC, including improvements to the transportation and parking issues students face. He stated that he ran for the board because he realized that ACC provides an essential and accessible higher education and workforce training for the central Texas area.

Cortez has a deep connection with the Austin area in which he lives. "My younger brother goes to ACC. My other brother is an ACC graduate, so ACC is an important part of my family and life."

Cortez's goal is to keep ACC's high quality education while making it more accessible to the community.

"As a board member we set policy and work to expand ACC to accommodate the projected 10,000 additional students we will have in ten years. The board is fortunate that Dr. Kinslow and his staff operate ACC which allows the board to look to the future and not apply Band-Aids to current problems."

Cortez is employed by Capital Metro and uses the bus system as his means of transit. "I understand that the ACC student bus rate tripled, but the fare increase was necessary to provide Metro's current level of service and fund future Metro expansions that are in progress."

He hopes to make transportation more accessible to students by offering students, faculty, and staff free bus fairs. Cortez believed that a rational parking permit fee could cover the cost of the additional parking areas ACC has recently built, as well as providing some funds for Metro passes.

"One issue ACC has is transportation. I do not support subsidizing the cost of building student parking lots at the expense of building and maintaining classrooms," said Cortez.

"I grew up in the restaurant industry," said Cortez about what made him choose a life of civic support. "That gave me the ability to be able to relate and talk to just about anybody."

In high school, Cortez was a member of the National Hispanic Institute, a leadership and scholarship society.

"NHI gave me skills and confidence to work in the community. I have been given a lot of opportunity in my life, including becoming a student of UT Austin, because people before me worked to create those opportunities. What kind of person would I be if I did not work to create those opportunities for others.