Loyola Marymount University

05/12/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/12/2025 13:47

Dolores Delgado Bernal Named President’s Professor

President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., has appointed Dolores Delgado Bernal, Ph.D. as President's Professor in the LMU School of Education. Delgado Bernal, a professor of educational leadership, is co-director of the doctoral program in educational leadership for social justice at Loyola Marymount University.

The title of President's Professor is bestowed upon LMU's most distinguished faculty members who hold the rank of tenured full professor and are acknowledged as leaders in their fields, having earned national and international recognition for their work. They are nominated by an extensive team of colleagues and peers for their outstanding scholarly work and research productivity; their contributions to student learning and outcomes; and for demonstrating exceptional leadership and service to the university community, their professions, and beyond.

Delgado Bernal is a nationally recognized scholar-activist whose work bridges the fields of education and Chicanx studies and has had a profound and transformative impact on these and multiple related disciplines. She joined LMU in 2022 as a tenured professor of educational leadership after serving for five and a half years at Cal State L.A., where she was chair of the Department of Chicanx and Latinx Studies and later associate dean for the College of Ethnic Studies. Prior to Cal State L.A., she served on the faculty at the University of Utah for 17 years.

Dean Estela Zarate, Ph.D., praised the appointment as a historic and meaningful recognition of transformative leadership. "Dr. Delgado Bernal's career epitomizes the qualities sought in a President's Professor: distinguished scholarship, transformative teaching, impactful service, and an unwavering commitment to LMU's mission," she said.

Delgado Bernal's pioneering scholarship includes foundational concepts such as transformational resistance, pedagogies of the home, cultural intuition, and critical race feminista praxis. Her scholarship draws from Chicana feminist studies and critical race studies to investigate educational (in)equity, Latinx educational pathways, feminista pedagogies, and different forms of student resistance.

Her book "Transforming Educational Pathways for Chicana/o Students" (Teachers College Press, 2017) and other co-edited volumes are widely cited in the fields of education, ethnic studies, and feminist studies​. She has published over 40 articles/chapters and has co-authored or co-edited four books.

"Dr. Delgado Bernal's appointment as President's Professor underscores LMU's unwavering commitment to academic excellence and mission-driven leadership," said LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. "Her scholarship drives our pursuit of justice, equity, and community engagement. This recognition honors her impact and the future she inspires us to imagine - and boldly build - together."

As Kris D. Gutiérrez, Ph.D., Carol Liu Professor of Education at UC Berkeley, noted in a letter of support that Delgado Bernal's 2017 book serves as an essential model for research practice partnerships and community-engaged participatory research in education "that seeks to forge meaningful relations and transformative outcomes for communities … Employing an interdisciplinary Chicana/Latina Feminist frame, Delgado Bernal documented the first decade of a 10-year longitudinal study and university-community partnership (including several public schools), that privileged student, family, and community's rich cultural repertoires as an organizing principle for creating robust and culturally responsive educational experiences, in the tradition of the renowned scholar, Luis Moll."

In another letter of support, Daniel Solórzano, Ph.D., professor of social science and comparative education at UCLA, reflected on her impact: "Her academic, mentoring, and leadership record is nothing short of outstanding … I believe strongly that the students and communities she serves have been greatly enriched by her role as a faculty member and leader."

Mentorship has also been a central tenet of Delgado Bernal's career, which her LMU colleagues called "unparalleled" in a nomination letter: "She has chaired or served on nearly 50 dissertation committees, mentoring graduate students who have gone on to impact K-12 and higher education as equity-focused leaders. Her collaborative approach to scholarship and teaching - integrating students into research projects and co-authored publications - exemplifies her dedication to building an engaged, inclusive academic community."

Earlier in 2025, she was named to the National Academy of Education (NAEd), one of the highest honors in the field of education, reserved for scholars whose work has had a broad and sustained impact on education globally. She is the first member of NAEd in LMU's history.

Only seven professors at LMU have held the title of President's Professor, which is the highest honor for faculty at the university. Delgado Bernal joins current faculty members Eric Strauss, LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, and Cheryl Grills, LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, in sharing this honor. Past President's Professors include Antonia Darder, LMU School of Education; Beth Henley, LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts; Martha McCarthy, LMU School of Education; and David Stewart, LMU College of Business Administration.

In addition to being named to the NAEd this year, Delgado Bernal has received numerous honors and awards for her scholarship, teaching, and mentoring. Recent recognition includes the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Distinguished Scholar Award; the AERA Fellowship; the University of Arizona's National Prize for Excellence in Mexican American Studies; the Faculty Fellow for the Public Good award from Cal State L.A. ; the Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social Tortuga Award; and the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Scholar Award. She has served in leadership positions with AERA and many other professional organizations.

A former elementary school teacher in Pasadena, she earned her Ph.D. from UCLA, her M.P.A. from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and her bachelor's degree from Kansas State University as a first-generation college student.

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