Eliezer Hernández was born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and raised in a bilingual, multicultural household in the South Bronx to a Dominican immigrant. After graduating from high school, he attended SUNY Oswego, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Master’s in Education. He served as President of Nuestra Esperanza, the Latino Student Union, and a co-founder of Phi Iota Alpha Latino-American Fraternity, Inc. chapter at SUNY Oswego. Dr. Hernández earned his doctorate in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher University in May 2020. His dissertation focused on the identification and the Influence of Urban School Leaders’ Personal Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors on Leading Urban Social Justice Schools.

Dr. Hernández worked as a Spanish teacher in the Auburn Enlarged City School District for ten years. While in Auburn, he became the Spanish Club advisor and founded the José de San Martin chapter of La Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica. In 2010, Dr. Hernández joined the Syracuse City School District as an administrative intern and later became a vice principal at the Westside Academy at Blodgett. In 2014, he became the principal of Delaware Primary School, where he began building a PreK-5 bilingual school in Syracuse. He now serves as the Coordinator of Data Management for the Syracuse City School District.

In the community, Dr. Hernández serves as the President of the Auburn/Cayuga County Branch of the NAACP, a board of directors of the National Math Foundation, a board of directors of AADUNA, Inc., and secretary of the Minority Professionals Association. He is serving his fourth term on the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education. Dr. Hernández is the secretary and Spanish Language Delegate of NYSABE.

Dr. Gliset C. Morales is an Associate Professor in the Exceptional Education Department at SUNY Buffalo State University, where she also coordinates the Bilingual Inclusive Education Graduate Certificate Program. In this role, she is dedicated to expanding pathways for bilingual teacher preparation. Her teaching focuses on the foundations of special education, bilingual education, the intersection of both, as well as the assessment of multilingual learners.

In addition to her teaching, Dr. Morales is actively engaged in research and service. Her work focuses on language outcomes for multilingual students, both with and without disabilities, multi-tiered systems of support, disproportionality, and culturally and linguistically relevant instruction and assessment.

Recently, she has also explored the intersection of art and advocacy, recognizing the power of art as a transformative tool for social change. Through this lens, Dr. Morales integrates creative expression into her scholarly work, using art not only as a medium for advocacy but also as a means to amplify the voices of marginalized communities, particularly multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Her passion for art allows her to bridge education and advocacy in innovative ways, promoting equity and inclusion through both academic and artistic avenues.

Dr. Morales remains deeply committed to advancing bilingual education and enhancing teacher preparation programs.

Shirley J. Vargas is an accomplished educator who has dedicated over 20 years of her career to serving multilingual students of diverse backgrounds and has held various roles in the learning community. For 10 years, she served as Chairperson of the Department of World Languages at Westbury High School. She was instrumental in establishing a Home Language Arts program in

the Westbury School District, expanding the department with new teaching positions, and also establishing a language lab as an educational tool for language students via technology. The AP Spanish program has since grown two-folds, gearing students to become high achievers and true commodities to the industries they

will enter post-graduation. She serves as the NYS Seal of Biliteracy Coordinator for her district, and also co-leads as a Grant Advisor at Westbury for Nassau Community College Science and Technology Entry Program. (NCC-STEP)

Ms. Vargas’ experience includes professional development and instructional practices for second language study, English language learners, bilingual education, and college-level language study. Additionally, she holds several board positions, President of HHSRC of Melville NY, Secretary of Club Salitre Ecuatoriano of NY, and board member of Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates; each engaging the community in cultural connections and family-oriented initiatives.

She is a graduate of Hofstra University where she completed a dual major in Elementary Education and Spanish, alumni of Queens College, has completed two Master Degrees, in Education and Educational Leadership, obtained her Advanced Certification in leadership at the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, and completed the 21 Century Learning Design/STEAM Academy program via NYIT. Additionally, she holds U.S federal clearance and works in pre-trial preparations, for DOJ Offices.

Serving as a co-leader for Latina Moms Connect, has also invited personal and community engagements for her family. Together with her husband, they have nurtured in their children pride in their Ecuadorian and Dominican backgrounds. As a proud parent of four bilingual children of her own, Ms. Vargas has dedicated her life to educating children to embrace the following ideology, “Your fluency in more than one language, pride in your cultural background, and passion to learn, are the core principles to success and the emblem that defines your greatness.”

Lyda Ragonese is the Supervising Director for the Department of English as a New Language, World Languages and Bilingual Education in the Syracuse City School District. She is a Hmong-American from Laos and is a fluent speaker of Hmong. She began her teaching career in 1993 as an English as a Second language teacher at Franklin Elementary before moving to Frazer K-8 School in Syracuse. She has her TESOL certification from Le Moyne College and M.A. in Reading Education from Syracuse University. After leaving the classroom, her experiences varied in the fields of student learning objectives (SLO), APPR, and was elected as the treasurer of the teacher’s union in Syracuse. She has served as an adjunct professor at Le Moyne College and earned her Certificate of Advanced Studies (C.A.S.) from Syracuse University in Educational Leadership.

Analy Cruz-Phommany currently serves as the Director of Bilingual Education for the Rochester City School District. As a former English Language Learner, she considers it an honor to have begun her career as a bilingual pre-kindergarten teacher.  She served students as a bilingual fifth-grade teacher for eight years and three years as an instructional coach at Enrico Fermi School No. 17.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood and Childhood Education from SUNY Cortland, as part of Cortland’s Urban Recruitment of Educators (CURE) Program. She went on to obtain a Master’s Degree in TESOL at Nazareth and a Master’s Degree in School District Leadership at the University of Rochester.

With a focus on Bilingual Education and Latino Achievement, she currently serves her local community as a member of the Rochester Latinx Leadership Roundtable, the NYSED ELL Leadership Council, and as a newly inducted regional delegate of the New York State Association of Bilingual Education (NYSABE).

Her aspiration is to establish a district culture where there is an individualized learning plan for bilingual students, where the success of each student matters, and where teachers are empowered to meet the language needs of all students.   Working together to cultivate a bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural community.