Stephanie Hernandez

Dra. Stephanie Hernandez Rivera, is a Puerto Rican woman and race-gender, higher education scholar and educator. At Elon, she serves as an assistant professor where she teaches courses focused on social justice, student development, global education, and assessment. Based on her educational background and interdisciplinary approach to her work, she also teaches women's, gender, and sexuality studies focused courses. As a previous practitioner and administrator in higher education, Hernandez Rivera uses her knowledge of the field, alongside scholarship to support and faciltiate student learning and development. 

Using critical cultural methodologies, her research agenda explores: how equity and inclusion work is operationalized in higher education; resistance strategies of students, faculty and staff; and how oppressive power systems emerge on micro and meso levels to impact the psychological well-being of communities of color. Hernandez Rivera’s work has been published in the Journal of HIgher Education, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, and The Journal of Negro Education among others. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education, as well as the Journal of College Student Development, reviewing work that engages critical methodologies, women of color feminisms, intersectionality in education, and more. 

Honored as the endowed, innagural Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education Emerging Professor, Hernandez Rivera continues to demonstrate her commitment to and contributions to the field of education through her record of publication and active engagement within the local Elon community and national associations.