Thuy Thi Nguyen

Thuy Thi Nguyen is a Partner at the law firm of Garcia Hernández Sawhney, practicing education law and serving as General Counsel to the African American California Community College Trustees and Administrators Caucus. In 2016, Nguyen became the first Vietnamese American college president in the country – serving over five years as President of Foothill College.  

Previously, Nguyen was General Counsel to the Peralta Community College District for more than eleven years. She also served as Interim President/CEO of the Community College League of California. Nguyen later served as Interim General Counsel for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. 

Nguyen has served on many boards, including the American Council on Education. Nguyen is currently a board member for Cal LAW Pathways and Cal Medicine Coalition – organizations she co-founded to diversify the legal and medical professions, respectively.  

In 2007, Nguyen was named one of eighteen “Best Lawyers Under 40” in the country by the National Asian American Bar Association. In 2016, for her leadership in creating an unprecedented community college pathway to law school initiative, Nguyen received the coveted Diversity Award from the State Bar of California. A refugee from Vietnam, Nguyen was one of thirty-eight individuals honored in 2017 as part of Carnegie Corporation’s “Great Immigrants” tribute in the New York Times.

Nguyen earned her B.A. degree in Philosophy from Yale University and J.D. degree from UCLA School of Law. Nguyen is a Paul and Daisy Soros for New Americans Fellow.  

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