Austin Community College Highland in Austin, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Two trustee races are contested on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Two professors are challenging Austin Community College incumbents in the Nov. 3 race to fill three trustee seats. One race is uncontested.
The ACC Board has nine nonpartisan trustees who serve six-year terms and are elected at large, not to represent specific regions. The elected trustees are in charge of a $583 million budget and tasked with crafting and overseeing policies that govern the college.
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The college serves an area the size of Connecticut and enrolls 80,000 students a year. It is the largest workforce trainer in Central Texas. But it may soon face a significant shortfall if lawmakers further limit property tax collections and opt against fully funding the state’s community college funding model, which awarded ACC $6 million less than projected this year.
ACC is working to build momentum by increasing enrollment, making attendance more affordable and rolling out a strategic plan that aims to boost completion rates to 70% by 2030. ACC’s college completion rate was 47% as of 2025.
Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia, a two-term Leander Independent School District trustee and former education instructor at St. Edward’s University is challenging incumbent Dana Walker, a former Meta program manager and consumer finance manager, for Place 1.
Incumbent Nan McRaven, a longtime higher education advocate who owns the public relations and government affairs firm McRaven Consulting, will face Trevor Hale, a retired business administration professor who has worked at multiple Texas universities, for Place 3.
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Gigi Edwards Bryant is running unopposed for her third term in Place 2.
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 5. Early voting runs Oct. 19-30, and Election Day is Nov. 3. Texas voters will also select their next U.S. senator, governor and attorney general.
Place 3: Nan McRaven vs. Trevor Hale
Tariffs, the war in Iran and inflation drove third-generation professor Hale to run for a seat on the Austin Community College board. Though he can’t fix those national issues from the ACC dais, he believes he can make a difference in a cause he cares about: education, Hale said.
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“What did George Washington say? Do what you can, where you’re at, what you have,” he said. “Here’s a problem I can fix, and it’s not much of a problem.”
Hale fell in love with teaching at the University of Houston-Downtown, where he taught night classes to working students who were often the first in their families to go to college. He became more involved in university administration after that and eventually became the university’s faculty senate president. He later was elected president of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates, an organization of faculty leaders from across the state.
Though he does not have experience teaching at community colleges, Hale said his experience working with first-generation students and four-year university faculty leaders will help him make a difference at ACC.
Hale wants to expand the college’s career readiness center, set term limits at ACC and consider changes to ACC’s name or marketing. He did not provide specifics on those plans, but said he wants the college to be open to changes to become the best in the country.
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“Continuous improvement is something I teach in classes. This is something I’m taking with me to the ACC,” Hale said.
Hale previously ran for Pearland ISD school board, but lost three times, in 2011, 2014 and 2017.
He is challenging McRaven, the longest-serving member of the board, who is running for her fifth term. McRaven said her connections, passion and experience make her a key asset to the board as ACC seeks to sustain its free tuition pilot and meet evolving workforce needs.
McRaven, who has served on the board for nearly 25 years, has dedicated her career to higher education. She earned her doctorate in higher education administration and community college leadership from the University of Texas, driven to understand more about ACC’s mission.
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She co-wrote a book on how cultural leaders like Brené Brown and Matthew McConaughey were transformed by their college experience, consulted with the Gates Foundation and served on the board of ACC’s foundation. She previously taught at ACC as an adjunct professor and in the University of Texas’ business and public affairs schools.
McRaven is most proud of leading ACC’s effort to pass the 2022 bond, bringing PBS to campus, the 2012 purchase of Highland Mall for the college’s main campus, growing the college’s reserves and keeping tuition and taxes flat.
Next term, she wants to find funding to maintain ACC’s free tuition pilot after it is set to expire in 2029, advocate for lawmakers to fully invest in the community college funding model and increase the college’s affordability supports for students.
“I have a passion for students and student success,” McRaven said. “I’m very proud of where we’ve gotten to over the last 20 years and I think we have another leap to make to be the college of the future.”
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Place 1: Dana Walker vs. Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia
Running for Place 1, Gonzales-Dholakia is a first-generation college graduate who has dedicated her career to helping others have the same experience.
She taught education and education technology courses at St. Edward’s University and Austin Community College and led nonprofits focused on civics, social justice and boosting educational attainment. She works as vice president of alumni and public policy at the Jeremiah Program, which helps single mothers around the country complete college.
“I want ACC to be a place where every single student, no matter when they’re starting or where they’re coming from, can find a clear path forward to get to where they want to go,” Gonzales-Dholakia said.
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Gonzales-Dholakia believes her connections with local nonprofits and school board trustees can help strengthen the college’s work expanding access to education. She believes she can advocate to increase college completion rates — ACC’s north-star goal.
“I really think that there’s a lot of opportunities to have stronger partnerships between ACC and Central Texas ISDs,” she said. “We have to move away from governance just from the dais. It needs to be community-centered governance (where) we’re really showing up in our communities and being that connector to ACC and neighborhoods and communities.”
Walker, who serves as secretary of the ACC board, pitches herself as the board’s “technology expert.” Her prior work at Meta makes her qualified to help the college prepare students for a world rapidly being shaped by artificial intelligence, she said.
She also worked as a management consultant, working with federal agencies and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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On her campaign website, Walker lists increasing college completion rates, expanding emergency financial support for students, supporting veterans and passing free tuition as her accomplishments.
In a second term, she wants to finish adding wraparound supports for all students and identify more ways to trim the budget.
“My hunch is there’s a lot of opportunity to look across the operations even more deeply than we have, and as a board, we need to keep pushing that,” Walker said.
Annexation vote
Also on the ballot this year, Pflugerville ISD voters will decide whether to join the college’s taxing district, gaining access to community college services and in-district tuition rates in exchange for an annual property tax rate of 0.1034 per $100 of property value. If voters approve the move, the average homeowner will pay about $391 more in property taxes per year.
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Voters rejected an annexation proposal in 2018. The college has since passed free tuition for recent high school graduates and expanded to Lockhart ISD.
In the last trustee election in 2024, both incumbents retained their seats, but S.O.P.H.I (Sherri) Taylor — an ACC student who did not have a campaign website, public platform or flyers — beat ACC and Harvard University alumnus Cole Wilson, an education expert who had secured endorsements from multiple county stakeholders.