Conference Schedule

Keynote Speaker
Dr. José M. Aguilar-Hernández

Dr. José M. Aguilar-Hernández is a Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education and Integrative Studies and Director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies Teaching and Scholarship (OIES) at Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. Aguilar-Hernández is a first-generation academic, whose trajectory in higher education began at Moorpark Community College. He transferred to UCLA, where he received his B.A. in History and Chicana/o Studies, M.A. in Latin American Studies, and Ph.D. in Education. He was trained by Dr. Daniel G. Solórzano, whose teaching and mentorship informed his career as an interdisciplinary scholar.  

Aguilar-Hernández's research and teaching interests include higher education, Latina/o/x students, student movements, and critical pedagogy. Using critical race theory in education & historical methods, Aguilar-Hernández’s research and publications include charting 1990s Student of Color activism in higher education in Southern California and engaging critical pedagogy in higher education. His publications have appeared in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Latino Studies Journal, Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and in the First-Generation Faculty of Color: Reflections on Research, Teaching, and Service anthology published with Rutgers University Press. 

Aguilar-Hernández was awarded Advisor of the Year in 2024 and 2017 by the CPP College of Education and Integrative Studies. He serves as faculty coordinator of the CPP/Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) Ethnic Studies Dual Enrollment Program, a three-year program that enrolls high school students in "Introduction to Ethnic Studies," a course that grants PUSD students with high school and college credit. Aguilar-Hernández is one of 18 scholars across the United States selected to the American Educational Research Association's (AERA) Ethnic Studies Education research group, tasked to advance a national research agenda on ethnic studies. In spring of 2023, Aguilar-Hernández received the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Faculty Fellowship Program's Service Award, for his leadership in developing a program to support tenure-track Latinx faculty across the United States.