President Hernandez: Making Education Work for the 21st Century

Champlain College President Alex Hernandez makes the front cover of Vermont Business Magazine, for an in-depth profile of his journey to Vermont, Champlain’s unique differentiators, and the exciting local workforce partnerships and developments to come.

When Hernandez started his role as Champlain College President about 18 months ago, he wasted no time getting to know the campus community and local business owners. In Vermont Business Magazine‘s latest profile, writer Joyce Marcel catalogues Hernandez’s journey thus far.

The story touches on Hernandez’s early life in California, his high school and college education, and his post-graduate career. Through it all, one thing is clear: he’s interested in creating opportunity for people. He left the world of finance to pursue a position as a high school math teacher in South Los Angeles. From there, his education journey soared into administration, but he’s always made it a priority to teach.

Hernandez, who is invigorated when talking about Champlain College and workforce partnerships, discusses Champlain’s priorities leading into the next few years: going big on cybersecurity (and making Champlain the best place in the world for women to study cybersecurity), gaming, entrepreneurship, new programs in the biotech fields, and more.

Hernandez is keen on innovation and being more human in a digital world.

“We still try to address these human skills that will make students successful—courses that teach them how to have a good life and make them valuable citizens,“ Hernandez says in the article. “But we take a different approach to those human skills. My personal belief is that as technology becomes more and more important, it’s actually those human skills that become even more important for our students. That’s how they’re going to distinguish themselves.“

And when it comes to Vermont, Hernandez is deeply passionate about connecting students to the local business community. After all, Champlain is an engine of opportunity for Vermont.

“We have an important role in bringing talent to Vermont,“ Hernandez says in the story. “We want to support important industries across the state. The other day, I was standing with two business leaders and one said, ’My best employee is from Champlain College.’ The other one looked up and said, ’Yeah, me too.’ It was a great example of our relationship with the Vermont community. I believe we can reach our aspirations by leading with compassion, authenticity, and boldness.“