[3] Matos Rodriguez earned a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Yale University, graduating cum laude.

[4] At the same time, he began a research career focusing on the history of women in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Latino studies and migration.

In 2005, Matos Rodríguez took a leave from CUNY to go home to Puerto Rico for a job as chief adviser to the governor on health and social welfare issues.

A year later, he was named Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Family Services, a post in which he managed an annual budget of $2.3 billion and oversaw nearly 11,000 employees across 104 regional offices.

Increasing diversity among faculty and senior administrative staff was another key element of Matos Rodríguez's tenure at Queens.

[7] Early in his tenure, Matos Rodriguez appointed several people of color to high-level positions in CUNY's central administration, including José Luis Cruz as executive vice chancellor and university provost and Hector Batista as executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer.