Dolores M. Fernandez, a nationally-recognized professional in bilingual education, teacher training and curriculum development, was named Interim President of Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY) on March 1, 1998. On June 28, 1999, she was appointed to the position of President effective July 1, 1999.

A Professor of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College/CUNY since 1990, Dr. Fernandez is a former Deputy Chancellor of Instruction and Development for the New York City Board of Education, as well as a former Deputy Director for Program Services and a former Director of Education with the New York State Division for Youth. At Hunter College, which, together with Brown University, was a partner in the U.S. Department of Education Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory, Dr. Fernandez co-directed the Hunter College Consortium Site. Also at Hunter, she served as Co-Director of the New Urban Educators Program and was the Coordinator of the post-graduate Administration and Supervision Program in the Division of Programs in Education.

Dr. Dolores Fernandez' research interest in urban school reform and urban teacher education was enhanced by a project titled "Pathways to Teaching," a program designed to increase the number of certified teachers in low-performing schools in New York City. Dr. Fernandez co-chaired the New York State Task Force for Low Performing Schools which published the document titled "Perform or Perish," and which had a significant impact on school reform in the City and State. Dr. Fernandez was the recipient of the Hispanic Outreach Services' Women in Education Award for 1999. Dr. Fernandez serves on several Statewide advisory councils i.e., the New York State Education Department's Regents' Task Force on Closing the Performance Gap, and the Regents' Advisory Council on Equity and Access to Higher Education, which she chairs. Most recently, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed President Dolores M. Fernandez to the Cultural Advisory Committee of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Dolores Fernandez graduated cum laude from Nassau Community College, earned a B.S. in Education from The State University of New York (SUNY) at Old Westbury, and received a Master's in Education, as well as a professional Diploma in Educational Administration, from Long Island University (LIU) - C.W. Post College. She then earned her Professional Diploma in Reading and her Ph.D., in Language and Cognition from Hofstra University. Among her academic honors have been Title VII Fellowships for both her Master's and Ph.D. studies. In addition to teaching at Hunter College, Dr. Fernandez also taught in the Curriculum and Teaching Departments of LIU-C.W. Post and SUNY at Old Westbury.

As part of her Hostos Renaissance initiative, President Fernandez is credited with establishing the College's Language and Cognition Department and with promoting Academic Language Corridors leading to the mastery of two languages for all students. A widely sought keynote speaker, Dr. Dolores M. Fernandez' most current invited papers and presentations include: "Bilingual Education: Student Achievement and Instruction Practices" and "Bottom-Up Reform with Top-Down Support: Working with Schools As We Find Them," before the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association; "Urban Teacher Preparation: Redesigning Programs to Meet State Needs," for the New York Association of Colleges of Teacher Education; and "Educational Reform and Bilingual Education: Lessons from the Front Line," before the International Bilingual/Multicultural Education Conference of the National Association for Bilingual Education.