Generation Next 2026 Postsecondary Practitioners Forum
As part of the College’s ongoing partnership with Generation Next, employees are warmly invited to attend the 2026 Postsecondary Practitioners Forum.
March 27, 2026 | 9–11 a.m. at Saint Paul College, Rooms 1506-1510 (235 Marshall Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55102)
The keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Esmeralda Hernandez-Hamed, the Co-director and Co-founder of The Collective for Equity-Minded Practice. She will present on Insights from Practice, Implementation, and Voice as our Learning and Design Tools for Achieving Racial Justice and Equity.
Following the keynote, there will be an audience Q&A, moderated by Pepe Wonosikou, Dean of Student Success at Saint Paul College.
The meeting will close with a panel discussion from New York City stakeholders of Degrees NYC, Options Center at Goddard Riverside, and the Young Black Male Grassroots Initiative. The panel will be moderated by Aubrey Hendrixson, American Indian Success Coordinator at Minneapolis College.
Refreshments will be available. Attendees should park in the parking lot in to receive a parking voucher.
Esmeralda Hernandez-Hamed Bio
Prior to her current role, Hernandez-Hamed was an Interim Director and Associate Director at the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center in their Colleges and Universities Portfolio and a project specialist for the Center for Urban Education. She works with practitioners at community colleges and 4-year institutions across the U.S. to close racial equity gaps in areas like transfer, faculty hiring, and course completion.
To this end, she facilitates discussions on race and equity-mindedness and leads practitioner inquiry into their everyday practices, policies, and structures. She finished her Ph.D. in Higher Education with a focus on Organizational Behavior and Management at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor. Her research interests revolve around how higher education institutions change (or do not change) to align with equity and social justice.