Sylvia Rodríguez Vargas, Ph.D.

Sylvia Rodríguez Vargas, Ph.D. is currently the Associate Head of School at Atlanta Girls’ School, where she also serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives. She began serving independent schools over twenty years ago and has been a Teacher, Department Chair, Division Director, Communications and Marketing Chair, Academic Dean, Assistant Head, and Head of School. She has directed language programs in Spain and Mexico and traveled to China as the World Language Task Force Chair prior to instituting curricular changes and adding Mandarin, Chinese at a previous school. Most recently, she traveled to seven cities in China as part of international student recruitment efforts at AGS.

Active in independent school leadership, she co-chaired the NAIS People of Color Conference in Atlanta in 2016 and has offered several workshops throughout the years at both the NAIS and PoCC annual conferences. Dr. Rodríguez Vargas completed her doctoral research investigating the lived experience of women of color heads of schools. Her published work, Women of Color Heads of Independent Schools: A Framework of Culturally Relevant Leadership, includes the experiences of ten women and their journeys in school leadership.

In addition to her work in independent schools, Dr. Rodríguez Vargas has served as an instructor and adjunct professor at The Ohio State University and the City University of New York, completed a seminar on school leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and was an NAIS E.E. Ford Fellow for Aspiring Heads. Most recently, she was invited to serve on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Principals’ Panel Standing Committee with the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics. She has also served on advisory boards, was a mentor with the Hispanic Chamber of Columbus, and has published several articles on school leadership.

Little Known Fact: 
I made my television debut at age five and my first regional commercial when I was nine years old.

Why I Teach: 
I believe in the transformative life opportunities afforded through education and have enjoyed my service as an educator over the past 25 years.

Education: 
B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature, and Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies (double major), Binghamton University—State University of New York
M.A. in Latin American Literature and Literary Analysis, The Ohio State University
M.Ed. in Educational Administration, Private School Leadership, Columbia University
Ph.D. in Educational Administration, The Ohio State University