Jaime “Jim” L. Diaz-Granados, PhD, of Baylor University is the American Psychological Association’s executive director for education. Prior to assuming his position with the APA, he was a professor of psychology, neuroscience and biomedical studies and chair of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor. Diaz-Granados is an experienced researcher in the developmental, behavioral and neurochemical aspects of alcohol abuse and addiction and previously served as the director of the Baylor Addictions Research Consortium and as a member of review panels and committees with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Diaz-Granados has received over $1.5 million in research grants and awards during his career
When asked to comment on his community college experience, Dr. Diaz-Granados said, “My community college experience allowed me a safe and affordable environment to explore my passions and allowed my parents additional time to save for my eventual transfer to The University of Texas at Austin. I credit those two years spent in community college to have been a key to my success. After high school, while pursuing a career as a singer in a rock band, my parents were insistent that I take courses at the local community college. They were committed to the idea that, as a first-generation college student, a quality education was an important part of a successful future. Therefore, I studied for a year at North Harris Community College (now part of the Lonestar College System). This is where I took my first college Psychology course and decided that psychology would be my eventual major. My psychology professor at NHCC suggested that I go to UT-Austin as they had a very strong psychology program. She also suggested that, if my family needed more time to save money for UT, I transfer to Austin Community College in order to begin the transition to living alone and in a big city. Which is exactly what I did. I finished a good number of my basics in my two semester at NHCC and one semester at ACC before transferring into UT-Austin. Many years later, I would find myself as the first recipient of a prestigious R01 NIH research award at Baylor University and later as a department head working to provide valuable experiences and advice to hundreds of students. This was my way of paying forward what my community college teachers did for me.”
