The Dr. John Hernandez Leadership award is one of LNs major awards and honors the legacy and contributions of Dr. John Hernandez, who served as the first official LN Chair from 1994-1995. In addition to his service within LN, John served as a member of the ACPA Governing Board (2012 – 2015) and was recognized as a Diamond Honoree in 2005.
About John Hernandez
Today, Dr. Hernandez serves as the President of Irving Valley College in California since July 2020. He has been a role model and an inspiring leader within Higher Education.
Dr. Hernandez earned his PhD in college student personnel administration from the University of Maryland in College Park; a master’s degree in counseling with an emphasis in student development in higher education from Cal State Long Beach; a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Cal State Fullerton; and an Associate in Arts degree at Fullerton College.
His professional career spans roles at Irving Valley College, Santiago Canyon College,Cal Poly Pomona, Santa Ana College, and California State University, Fullerton. Additionally, he served as an adjunct instructor in the Student Development in Higher Education graduate program at California State University, Long Beach.
As a first-generation immigrant and a product of the California community college system, Dr. Hernandez knows the impact of a college education firsthand. His educational journey was positively shaped as an EOP&S student at Fullerton College, and he is a living testament of how lives are transformed through education.
About the LN Award
The Dr. John Hernandez Leadership award (first awarded in 2001) recognizes individuals for their leadership, citizenship, and mentorship that they have demonstrated to the Latinx Network and ACPA, and for the outstanding professional and academic contributions that they have made in the field of Student Affairs/Higher Education.
The Endowment
In Fall 2020, ACPA LN in partnership with Dr. Hernandez and Dr. Ray Plaza, and with the support of the ACPA Foundation started to lay the groundwork to endow this Leadership Award. Today, we embark on the formal public phase of this fundraising effort so that we can raise the final $10,000 needed to establish the endowment. With ACPA25 being hosted in Long Beach, CA, our goal is to raise the final amount by February 2025 so that we can properly honor Dr. Hernandez at ACPA25.
This endowment, which would be the first endowed scholarship within the ACPA Foundation, would provide a one-time stipend to each future winner of the Dr. John Hernandez Award and would serve as another way to cement Dr. Hernandez’s legacy and impact.
