Norlan Hernandez, Ph.D.

• M.B.A., Paul Merage School of Business, University of California - Irvine, California, 2025 
• Ph.D., Intercultural Studies, Biola University, La Mirada, California, 2022
• M.A., Theology, Graduate School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, 2017
• B.A., Liberal Studies, California State University, Los Angeles, 2015

I teach at Fresno Pacific University because it is a place where my deepest commitments as an educator, mentor, and leader align into a true calling. I believe wholeheartedly in the raw talent, resilience, and potential of our students—especially those coming from marginalized communities and those who are the first in their families to attend college—and it is a privilege to support them as they recognize that their lived experiences are powerful assets.

Higher education is a catalyst for intergenerational change, and I am driven by a passion to shape the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, and ethical professionals who will lift up their communities and innovate the future workforce. Crucially, FPU provides the unique environment to seamlessly integrate faith with the field of business, allowing us to examine how strategic, real-world preparation rooted in integrity and service can turn business into a force for good, empowering our students to see their future careers not just as jobs, but as meaningful callings.

Additional Information

Norlan Hernández, Ph.D., is an author, researcher, speaker, and people-centered leader passionate about helping people thrive. He is committed to advancing transformational change through the intersection of culture, identity, and leadership. At FPU, he is committed to preparing graduates to lead with integrity, pursue equity, and harness business as a catalyst for positive change.

Norlan Hernández Blandón is a proud Nica/Nicoya — terms used to describe someone with Nicaraguan roots. He is the proud father to Aella Mia and husband to Isabel.

He is the founder and president of Faithful Teachings, Inc., a nonprofit organization that aims to be a catalyst through partnerships with local faith-based communities on holistic initiatives for the transformation of society in Latin America. He is also CEO and Lead Consultant at Empowerfy Consulting, a consulting firm that provides a high-impact, research-based, data-driven and culturally informed approach to professional development.

He also serves as the Associate Provost of Engagement and Inclusive Teaching and Learning (aka Chief Diversity Officer) at Fresno Pacific University. His previous roles include being the Director of the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership at Vanguard University, leading a corporate training team that served an international audience and leading teams of higher education professionals who pioneered institutional efforts in creating an infrastructure to support fully online undergraduate and graduate students.

Norlan Hernández, Ph.D., has presented and published on various leadership topics. He contributed a chapter entitled “Identity, Intersectionality, and Leadership: Leading While Brown” included in Ludmila Praslova’s book Evidence-Based Organizational Practices for Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity. He has published in academic journals, which include “A double paradox: Servant leadership and gender scripts in the Latin American context” in the Theology of Leadership Journal and “‘You Hide Pieces of Yourself’: Navigating White Spaces as U.S. Missionaries of Color” published in Transformation. He is also a part of the Publisher’s Circle at Hispanic Executive, where he has published articles entitled “The Art and Responsibility of Leading as a Latino” and “Embodying Brown Leadership in Predominantly White Institutions.” He is also the author of Pursuing Self: Body, Mind, Spirit, which presents a set of poems that speak to the lived experience of a hyphenated identity.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with an emphasis on culture and society from California State University, Los Angeles, a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Biola’s Cook School of Intercultural Studies and an Executive MBA from UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business. His research interests include Latin American identity, theology, contextualization, leadership, justice and inclusive excellence.

In his free time, he enjoys exercising, spending time outdoors with his wife Isabel and daughter Aella Mia, reading and watching movies and documentaries.

• Hernández, N. (2027). Latin American Theology from the Ground Up: A Study in the Lived Experiences of the Nicaraguan Church. InterVarsity Press Academic.
• Hernández, N. (2025). “How to Create Pathways for Unity and Progress.” Hispanic Executive.
• Hernández, N. (2025). “DEIB is About People, Not Political Agendas.” Hispanic Executive.
• Hernández, N. (2023). “Identity, Intersectionality, and Leadership: Leading While Brown.” In Praslova, L. N. (Ed.), Evidence-Based Organizational Practices for Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity (pp. 324–340). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Hernández, N. (2023). “The Art and Responsibility of Leading as a Latino.” Hispanic Executive.
• Huang, L. A., & Blandón, N. J. H. (2023). “‘You Hide Pieces of Yourself’: Navigating White Spaces as U.S. Missionaries of Color.” Transformation.
• Hernández, N. (2023). Pursuing Self: Body. Mind. Spirit. Empowerfy Consulting, LLC.
• Hernández, N. (2022). “Embodying Brown Leadership in Predominantly White Institutions.” Hispanic Executive.
• Hernandez, N., & Harris, L. (2022). “Theological Education in and for Black and Brown Communities.” Christian Higher Education, 21(5), 358–376.
• Hernandez, N. (2021). “Nurturing the tenets of Latin American Evangelical Ecclesiology.” Journal of Latin American Theology, 16(1), 111–148.
• Hernández, N. (2019). “A double paradox: Servant leadership and gender scripts in the Latin American context.” Theology of Leadership Journal, 2(1), 38–55.