Faculty Pub Night: "Counterhegemonic Ethnic Studies Leadership" (School of Education)

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The second Faculty Pub Night of the 2026-27 season features Joaquín M. S. Noguera, Ernesto Colín, Kenzo K. Sung, Dolores Delgado Bernal, Cynthia M. Alcantar, Kyo Yamashiro, and William Pérez. They will discuss their recent publication, "Counterhegemonic Leadership: Addressing the Challenges and Possibilities of Ethnic Studies Implementation for Educational Leaders."

About Faculty Pub Night

Students, staff, faculty, alumni, and members of the public are all invited to the 2026-27 series of Faculty Pub Night at the William H. Hannon Library. Eight LMU professors are selected annually to discuss their latest publication or project in a comfortable setting and format that welcomes diverse perspectives for an inclusive conversation aimed to educate the entire community. All Faculty Pub Nights are free and open to the public.

About the Authors' Work

The chapter examines the complex challenges and transformative possibilities of implementing Ethnic Studies (ES) in PK–12 education and articulates a leadership approach necessary for authentic and sustainable implementation. Grounded in historical analysis, empirical research, and practitioner experience, the chapter asks: (1) What operational, pedagogical, and sociopolitical challenges do PK–12 leaders face in implementing ES? (2) How can leadership preparation programs better support leaders in advancing the goals and values of ES? and (3) How might counterhegemonic leadership serve as a framework for leading ES initiatives? The paper introduces counterhegemonic educational leadership, a framework that challenges dominant leadership paradigms rooted in whiteness, meritocracy, neoliberalism, and hierarchical authority. Drawing from the epistemological and political foundations of ES, counterhegemonic leadership is theorized as relational and reflexive; grounded in the lived experiences and cultural knowledge of historically marginalized communities; and oriented toward justice, transformation, and liberation.

Extending beyond conventional social justice leadership frameworks, this model centers ES not only as curriculum but as a praxis of leadership development shaped by critical consciousness, community accountability, and decolonial pedagogy. The chapter identifies three interrelated domains of challenge—operational, curricular/pedagogical, and sociopolitical—which are fundamentally ideological rather than technical. In response, the paper advances counterhegemonic leadership preparation grounded in political education, critical self-reflection, and community collaboration, offering a roadmap for cultivating leaders who protect and realize ES’s liberatory potential. 

About the Authors

Cynthia Maribel Alcantar is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University. Her research examines social structures affecting the mobility and integration of racial/ethnic minoritized and immigrant populations in the U.S., focusing on the role of schools (public K-20, community colleges, and Minority Serving Institutions) in shaping educational pathways and civic participation. Her research has culminated into publications in The Review of Higher Education, Teachers College Record, Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, and Teachers College Press. 

Dolores Delgado Bernal is President’s Professor and Co-Director of the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University. She’s the former Chair of the Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies Department and Associate Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. Her scholarship draws from Chicana feminist studies and critical race studies to investigate educational (in)equity, Latinx educational pathways, different forms of student resistance, and anti-colonial pedagogical and methodological interventions. 

Ernesto Colín is Associate Professor of Teaching & Learning at the LMU School of Education. He is a two-time LMU alumnus, former public high school teacher in Southern California, and a trustee of Anawakalmekak school in Los Angeles. Dr. Colín completed his doctorate in Anthropology of Education at Stanford University completing a long-term ethnography of community-based education through Aztec dance. His academic interests center on Indigenous Education. He is currently the chair of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. 

Joaquín M. S. Noguera is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Administration in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University. He is a former social worker, K-12 teacher, and school leader who continues to work as a consultant, coach, and advisor to school and district leaders, teachers, and with learning organizations throughout the U.S. His research explores the limits and possibilities of transformation and healing through education for historically oppressed peoples; systems change that advances racial equity in organizational contexts; and the impact of social, cultural, and political patterns on schools.  

William Perez is Professor and Chair in the Department of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University. Previously he served as Associate Dean of DEI and Faculty Affairs. His research focuses on the civic engagement, multilingualism, and academic resilience of immigrant, undocumented, indigenous, and deported students in the U.S. and Mexico. His community-engaged research has received awards from the American Educational Research Association, the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the American Educational Studies Association, the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education and the Fulbright. His scholarship has been recognized by Education Week’s annual ranking of the top university-based scholars in the U.S. who are doing the most to influence educational policy and practice. 

Kenzo K. Sung is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Sung’s research areas have been shaped by his years attending and teaching in urban public schools, and include urban education policy and leadership, bilingual education, ethnic studies, critical race studies, and the history of education and social movements. Prior to academia, Dr. Sung was an Oakland Unified middle school teacher and leader, including serving on his school’s council of department chairs, co-writing a CA Model School Grant, and working as a teacher on special assignment with OUSD’s Department of Research and Assessment.

Kyo Yamashiro is Associate Professor in educational leadership and Research Partnership Facilitator in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Yamashiro engages in collaborative, partnership-based research to foster improvement and equity, focused on key issues of policy or practice. Her current partnership research with a community-based organization, Para Los Niños, is focused on school belonging and teacher-student relationships. In her prior role as co-founder and Founding Executive Director of the Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI), a research-practice partnership (RPP) with LA Unified, her research included studies of high school college readiness supports, math pathways, and the effects of taking ethnic studies courses on student outcomes and experiences. In addition to research focused on partner needs, she studies the role of RPPs in supporting equity and improvement goals and what institutional and political conditions enable effective partnerships. She also reinforced continuous, research-based improvement in her former district leadership roles, including overseeing choice and charter school programs as the Director of School Choice in San Diego Unified and leading evaluation work in Long Beach Unified. Her prior policy research and evaluation focused on charter schools, school choice, school climate and classroom climate. 

About the William H. Hannon Library

The William H. Hannon Library fosters excellence in academic achievement through an array of distinctive services that enable learners to feed their curiosity, experience new worlds, develop their ideas, inform their decision-making, and inspire others. More information can be found at http://library.lmu.edu

For more information about this event, contact the Outreach and Engagement team at the William H. Hannon library via email at library.outreach@lmu.edu or call 310-338-5234.