Cheryl Hyman

Cheryl L. Hyman is the Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, a system of seven community colleges and six satellite sites that provide learning opportunities for residents of the Chicago area. Since she launched a Reinvention of City Colleges in April 2010, the graduation rate has more than doubled to the highest rate on record and the degrees awarded annually are the highest in City Colleges' history. She and Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched City Colleges' College to Careers program in December 2011 in an effort to better prepare students for jobs and address the skills gap in Chicago. The program partners faculty and staff with over 100 industry leaders to better prepare students for careers in fast-growing fields.

Hyman has also overseen a balanced budget at City Colleges in each year of her tenure with no increase in taxes and administrative savings of $70 million. The non-partisan Chicago Civic Federation has also commended the institution's most recent budget as "a potential role model for other governments to emulate," noting its adoption of formal performance measures, maintenance of health financial reserves and planning for a $600 million capital plan with transparency and public input.

Born in Chicago, Hyman is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University and the Illinois Institute of Technology and began her post-secondary education at Olive-Harvey College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Hyman grew up on the West Side of Chicago in the Henry Horner Homes. She attended Orr High School but dropped out. After returning to high school and graduating, her interest in technology led her to a short-term training program and certificates. Shortly thereafter, the school closed and she said she found herself "without a marketable credential and substantial student debt." She then decided to go to Illinois Institute of Technology, but lacking the financial resources, attended Olive–Harvey College on the far South Side of Chicago, earned her associate degree and then transferred to the IIT, where she completed a bachelor’s in computer science."

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