The 2024 Working Group Meeting will convene national college leaders who are involved in men of color initiatives to network with colleagues and engage more deeply in topics that are both timely and critical to the success of men of color. CCEAL thanks the Lumina Foundation for its generous support of the National Consortium on College Men of Color.

Day 1
Friday, October 18, 2024

8:00am – 9:30am
Breakfast (Provided) & Check-In

9:30am – 10:15am
Performance
Performer/Artist: Viet Mai

Land and Labor Acknowledgment
Speaker: Josue Castro

Welcome
Speaker: Dr. Tina King

Acknowledgements of Sponsors and VIPs
Purpose and Overview of the Event
Speaker: Dr. Frank Harris III

10:15am – 11:20am
Opening Keynote
Speaker: Dr. J. Luke Wood

Dr. J. Luke Wood

Dr. Wood became Sacramento State’s ninth president on July 16, 2023, returning to his alma mater, at age 41, as the youngest person ever to lead the University and the youngest permanent president in all of the nation’s public four-year colleges and universities. He earned a bachelor’s in Black History and master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership at Sac State, then a Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education and doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Arizona State. Dr. Wood served as a professor and administrator, including vice president for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, at San Diego State before becoming Sac State president. He has authored 16 books and published over 180 articles, book chapters, and other scholarly works focusing on racial inequality issues in education. This academic record led him to be named the first Black distinguished professor in San Diego State’s history. In 2023, Wood was appointed by the California State Senate to serve on the California Racial Equity Commission. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Inc and an amateur boxer.

Dr. Franklin Garrett

Dr. Franklin Garrett serves as the Associate Dean of Student Support Services at the San Diego College of Continuing Education, where he oversees overseas student support programs such as the CalWORKs program and a diverse array of affinity programs and support services. He is a first-generation college student who has dedicated his career to supporting student development and achievement. He has 18 years of experience as a counselor, advisor, college instructor, program coordinator, and student affairs director. His experience in higher education includes strategic planning, multicultural counseling, advising, and student services coordination. Dr. Garrett received his bachelor’s in sociology and his master’s degree in education with an emphasis on multicultural counseling at San Diego State University, as well as his doctorate in educational leadership from UC San Diego/CSU San Marcos. His scholarship is on the persistence factors for first-generation African American students and student success strategies.

 Dr. Karen Stills

Dr. Karen Stills, a champion for student success with over 20 years in education, leverages her own experience as a first-generation graduate to empower diverse learners. Currently serving as the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success at Dallas College, Dr. Stills oversees an institution serving more than 100,000 students annually. She spearheaded the development of the Learner Care Model, a comprehensive approach that fosters student success through holistic, student-centered supports. Dr. Stills leads a team of more than 350 student success professionals, together driving initiatives to generate post-completion success outcomes. Additionally, Dr. Stills’ previous leadership experience includes serving as Executive Dean, Educational Partnerships at El Centro College, where she bridged support services and instruction, leading the successful expansion of dual enrollment programs. Dr. Stills holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of New Orleans, an MBA from Amberton University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University. Her achievements have been recognized by prestigious organizations, including selection as an Aspen Rising Presidential Fellow (2023). Dr. Stills’ multifaceted experiences inform her leadership and fuel her passion for creating a more equitable and empowering educational landscape for all.

 Dr. Cristóbal Rodríguez

Dr. Cristóbal Rodríguez was born and proudly raised in the Texas Borderlands of El Paso under hard-working immigrant parents from Mexico; and studying in Germany as a U.S. Congress-German Bundestag Scholar enhanced the world views and research of Dr. Rodríguez, along with his Ph.D. studies in Education Policy and Planning with a portfolio in Mexican American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Rodríguez’ research and leadership is centered on the need for systemic equity and culturally responsive leadership and policy across the education system. Prior to his current role since 2021, Dr. Rodríguez spent 5 years as an Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University, his BA and MA alma mater and Hispanic Serving Institution; with an additional 7 blessed years thereafter at Howard University in Washington, DC, a top Historically Black College/University, as an Associate Professor and as the Director of Graduate Studies of the School of Education.
Dr. Rodríguez was elected to a three-year term to the Executive Committee of University Council for Educational Administration in 2019, and was appointed in 2021 to the Board of Directors for the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education, for which he serves as its Chair-Elect. Most recently Dr. Rodríguez was appointed by President Biden to serve on the White House Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and Latinos.

 Hoang Pham, J.D.

Hoang Pham is the Director of Education and Opportunity at the Stanford Center for Racial Justice at Stanford Law School, where he leads research and policy initiatives to address entrenched racial inequities in the U.S. education system and promote economic mobility. A former two-time national award-winning educator, Hoang spent six years teaching elementary school in South Los Angeles and four years serving as an education consultant at the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, where he trained teachers and school leaders across the country. He previously clerked at the National Center for Youth Law and Public Advocates, supporting education civil rights litigation and numerous efforts to advance juvenile justice and education policy in the California State Legislature. He has conducted qualitative research as a member of the California School Discipline Project and the Walk Out! Lab For Youth Justice, and is a co-recipient of the American Educational Research Association Division L Outstanding Policy Report Award for his contributions to Beyond Suspension Decline: Transforming School Discipline in California. He has written on race, education law, policy and practice, criminal justice and policing, and critical pedagogy in legal education. Hoang received a B.S. from the University of Oregon in Political Science and Ethnic Studies, an M.A. in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University, and a J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law, where he was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Interest Scholar.

Dr. LaShae Sharp Collins

Sharp-Collins oversees community and parent engagement programs that positively impact 500,000 students across 42 school districts and over 760 schools. Dr. Sharp-Collins created a local taskforce to audit school districts with the result of an increase in the quality of local education across the County. She is also a fourteen-year SDSU Adjunct Professor in the Department of Africana Studies, and her classes are taught through the lens of systemic equity and justice because she believes that if we do not understand the foundation of inequity, we will not be able to rectify it.

As the nine-year District Director for Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber, she specialized in community and neighborhood issues, an integral member of the teams that improved financial support systems for middle-class families, secured affordable childcare for military families, and passed legislation to curb violence against communities of color.

Dr. Sharp-Collins is on the Board of the NAACP, the San Diego Urban League, Association of African American Educators, the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, the San Diego Unified Ethnic Studies Advisory Council, the San Diego State University Cultural Competency Program Advisory Committee, and the San Diego Unified School District Program Improvement Team. Dr. Sharp-Collins was also on the Board of Planned Parenthood for six years.

Dr. José Del Real Viramontes

Dr. José Del Real Viramontes is an Assistant Professor, in the Higher Education Administration and Policy Program the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Prior to UCR, he was an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education/Community College Leadership Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Cultural Studies in Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. José Del Real Viramontes is a faculty affiliate with the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Project Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success (MALES) at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Visiting Affiliate at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.

As a former community college transfer student, his research explores three areas of the transfer experience for historically underserved and marginalized students, with a particular emphasis on Latina/o/x students who use the community college as a pathway to complete their baccalaureate degrees. First, his work examines the transfer policies, practices, and programming four-year colleges and universities apply to limit or eliminate institutional and structural barriers Latinx students face during the transfer process. Second, his work highlights how Latina/o/x community college students develop their agency and use aspects of their cultural and social capitals to navigate and negotiate the ideological, material, and structural conditions within the community college to the four-year college or university transfer process. Third, his work explores the campus culture for Latina/o/x community college transfer students once they transfer to a four-year college or university by looking at the relationship between race and space and the intersectional identities with which Latina/o/x community college transfer students identify.

Dr. William Franklin

Dr. Franklin holds a Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education with a specialization in Child and Adolescent Development from Stanford University. He currently serves as the Vice President for Student Affairs at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he has successfully secured over $50 million in federal, corporate, and private grants to develop innovative student success initiatives aimed at supporting low-income, first-generation students. Before his current role, Dr. Franklin was an Associate Professor of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, as well as an Associate Professor of Human Development at California State University, Monterey Bay. His remarkable contributions to the field were recognized in 2015 when he received The Wang Family Excellence Award, which honors four outstanding faculty members and one exemplary administrator across the 23 campuses of the CSU system. Dr. Franklin was distinguished as the Outstanding Administrator, highlighting his exceptional commitment and impactful achievements. Additionally, Dr. Franklin founded the Male Success Alliance, regarded as one of the nation’s most effective initiatives for young men of color. He is also the founder and principal investigator of the California State University Young Males of Color Consortium, a strategic systemwide initiative aimed at tackling the unique challenges young men of color encounter in their postsecondary journeys while implementing effective strategies to support and empower their success.

Dr. Ray Ramirez

Dr. Ray Ramírez has dedicated his life’s work, research, and advocacy efforts to racial equity, anti-racism, and social justice in higher education. His scholar-practitioner research and advocacy interest include the role of community college practitioners (student affairs professionals, faculty, administrators, and staff) in fostering equitable student outcomes and institutional policy and practice impacting racially minoritized students, particularly Latino men. Dr. Ramírez has taught Chicanx-Latinx Studies courses at Fresno City College since 2012, served as the college Student Equity Coordinator from 2015 to 2019, Director of Student Equity and Success from 2019 to November 2023, and currently is Interim Vice President of Equity and Institutional Effectiveness at Madera Community College. Prior to 2015, Dr. Ramírez worked for the California Teaching Fellows Foundation in several capacities and ultimately as the Director of Operations from 2013 to 2015. He has also taught graduate courses in the Student Affairs and College Counseling program and Higher Education, Administration, and Leadership (HEAL) program as a lecturer in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State. He holds a dual B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Chicano and Latin American Studies, and an M.A. in HEAL from Fresno State.

Embassy Suites by Hilton San Diego Bay
Group Rate available until September 17, 2024
601 Pacific Highway
San Diego, CA 92101
RESERVATIONS

Porto Vista Hotel
Group Rate available until October 1, 2024
San Diego
1835 Columbia St
San Diego, CA 92101
RESERVATIONS

Wyndham San Diego Bayside
Group Rate available until filled
1047 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
RESERVATIONS

Places to Visit & Local Restaurants