Throughout his 30-year career in education, Dr. Fernández has focused on how to improve educational outcomes, especially on programs to provide the preparation and encouragement needed for more minority students to enter and succeed in college. His published books and research reports deal with the causes of Hispanic school dropout, the desegregation of Hispanic students, and bilingual education policy. At Lehman he has fostered collaboration between the College and local schools in the areas of technology, the arts, professional development, and curriculum enrichment. During his tenure, the College has significantly increased the level of its grant-funded research and the variety and reach of its educational programs, while also becoming a major resource for the borough's economic, cultural, and educational development.

Dr. Fernández is Chair of the American Council on Education (ACE) and is Past Chair of the Board of the American Association of Higher Education and of the Governing Board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). Other current affiliations include the boards of directors of the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) in San Antonio, TX, Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy (META) and the Hispanic Educational Telecommunication System (HETS), a national distance learning consortium of eighteen colleges and universities. He also serves on the New York State Commissioner of Education's Advisory Council on Higher Education and the National Hispanic Business Group's Advisory Board. In 2003 he became a member of the Frito-Lay (North America) Latino/Hispanic Advisory Board.

Locally, Dr. Fernández is a Trustee of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center and a Director of Wave Hill, a Bronx public garden and cultural center, and the Riverdale Mental Health Association. He was a member of the Transition Committee (Panel on Health) to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Dr. Fernández is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including being selected by Crain's New York Business as one of New York City's Top 100 Minority Business Leaders. He received the Comité Noviembre Educational Excellence Award and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs Award (2002), the P. Gus Cárdenas Award from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (2000), the Promesa Community Service Award (1992), the Interfaith Brotherhood Award of the Riverdale Jewish Community Council (1991), the National Puerto Rican Coalition's Lifetime Achievement Award in Education (1990), and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Faculty Distinguished Service Award (1984).

Dr. Fernández received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and a Master's degree in Spanish Literature from Marquette University as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. An American Council of Education Fellow in Academic Administration in 1981-82, he attended the Harvard Institute for Educational Management in 1992.

From 1973 until 1990, he was affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he rose to the position of Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of Educational Policy and Community Studies. In 1986-87 he was a Research Fellow at the National Center for Effective Secondary Schools at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A three-year study of Hispanic school dropouts in five cities, which he directed, led to a national report published by the ASPIRA Association (1989).

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Fernández and his wife, Patricia, an attorney, have three grown children and live in the Bronx with their two youngest, David and José.