Maya Fernandez

I've been working in higher education for almost 10 years now, and I've been in my current role for a year and a half. Before transitioning into higher ed, I spent almost 10 years in healthcare management, working in pediatrics and urgent care clinics as a Center Operations Director. In that role, I focused on operations management, staffing, scheduling, and ensuring low wait times for patients coming in to be seen for things like drug screens and tests. My path into higher education started when I lived in Boston and had the opportunity to teach as an adjunct at a college. That's when I realized this was where I belonged and where I could make a difference. I went back to school and earned my Doctor of Education in Educational Administration and Leadership from Concordia University Texas in 2019. My bachelor's degree is in Criminal Justice from the University of Texas at San Antonio, which I received in 2003. I originally thought about going into law enforcement but didn't, and ended up taking the healthcare route instead. Today, my main areas of expertise are compliance, operations, teaching, and leadership in the HR space. A typical day for me involves meetings, going through data, surveys, and analysis. I spend time going through qualitative rating comments and coming up with themes, then looking at quantitative results to see where the highs and lows are. I grew up in a family of teachers, and while I never thought I would be a college professor, once I got into the classroom for my first adjunct job, I realized this is where I belong and where I can make a difference. You can see the difference happening when the students understand the material and when they graduate.