Why Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez is someone to look up to
They rose. They lifted others.
An educator and global leader whose story - from modest beginnings to university leadership - shows the power of education and opening doors for others.
From A Free Place In A Classroom - To Opening Doors For Thousands
Astrid Tuminez was born in a farming village in Iloilo Province. When she was two, her parents moved their seven children to a poor community in Iloilo City, hoping education might give them a better future.
For Astrid, that future began when Catholic sisters from the Daughters of Charity gave her and her sisters an opportunity their family could not afford: a free education.
She entered school at five with little preparation. But the little girl who began at the back of the classroom discovered books, learned quickly, and never stopped reaching.
By 15, she had completed high school and was studying at the University of the Philippines on a government scholarship.
Her education eventually carried her across the world.
She graduated summa cum laude from Brigham Young University with a degree in international relations and Russian literature.
She earned a master’s degree in Soviet Studies from Harvard University.
Then she earned a PhD in Political Science from MIT.
Her career crossed several worlds - scholarship, philanthropy, international affairs, finance, public policy and technology. She served at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, worked in investment and research, became a vice dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, and later became a Microsoft executive responsible for corporate, external and legal affairs across Southeast Asia.
Then, in 2018, came another historic chapter.
Dr. Astrid Tuminez became the seventh president of Utah Valley University - and the first woman to serve as its full-time president.
But perhaps what makes her especially worthy of a place among our Filipinos to Look Up To is not simply how far she rose.
It is what she did with the opportunity she had been given.
Under her leadership, UVU grew to nearly 49,000 students. A remarkable 41% of its students were the first in their families to attend college.
She championed an institution built around access - serving first-generation students, working students, adult learners and young people whose path to higher education might not be traditional.
During her presidency, the number of students graduating annually grew from about 6,000 to more than 10,000.
UVU’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign raised more than US$254 million.
And among its results:
More than 6,000 students supported.
190 new scholarships created.
Thousands of doors opened.
She stepped down as UVU president on May 1, 2026, after seven and a half years of leadership.
There is a beautiful symmetry in Astrid Tuminez’s story.
Once, someone opened a door for a poor little girl in Iloilo.
She walked through it.
She studied.
She worked.
She rose.
And when she finally reached a position from which she could open doors herself, she held them open for others.
That may be the finest measure of success.
As she once said:
“We are in the business of people and their dreams.”
Mabuhay ka, Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez.
From Iloilo to Harvard and MIT.
From Microsoft to the presidency of a major American university.
But above all:
From being given a chance - to giving chances to thousands of others.