In response to a recent event at UW–Madison highlighting racism on campus, School of Education’s Anthony Hernandez authored an op-ed in The Capital Times newspaper.
Hernandez earned a master’s degree from the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies in 2017, and received a PhD from that same department in 2022. Today, he is a faculty associate with the Department of Educational Policy Studies, and is currently writing a book on critical transformation leadership at Hispanic-serving institutions. He has also won a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study of leadership in higher education.
“The crisis at the UW–Madison (earlier in May) should give administrators — and all of us — pause about how we continually fail to support traditionally underrepresented and underserved students,” Hernandez writes.
Hernandez also states that equity-minded leadership education should be “required for leaders throughout the university at all levels for an increasingly diverse society and global environment.”
After diving into some of his own experiences with racism on campus, Hernandez explains that it is these instances that inspire him to continue working in the education field.
“I recognize that the point of education is to disavow students of such racist narratives by educating them,” he says. “Education is exactly what they need, and it is what makes the work I do feel so very necessary.”
Read the full op-ed, titled “UW needs to fast-track antiracism efforts.”