To watch on our YouTube channel, click here.
In this episode we sit down with Dr. Emelyn dela Peña, President and CEO of NADOHE, for a timely conversation on leadership, mission clarity, and sustaining equity work in a rapidly shifting higher education landscape.
Drawing from her personal journey growing up in a diverse Los Angeles community, navigating loss and economic transition, and building a decades-long career across institutions like Stanford, Harvard, and Loyola, dela Peña reflects on the formative experiences that shaped her commitment to access, belonging, and student success. She shares how moments of protest, community support, and witnessing institutional responses to crisis helped define her purpose as an educator and leader.
The conversation, with In the Margins host Ralph Newell, explores the current national climate surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, including legal challenges, institutional overcorrections, and the growing role of fear in decision-making. And dela Peña emphasizes the importance of lawful, mission-driven leadership, deep listening, and centering those historically pushed to the margins.
She also outlines her priorities as NADOHE’s new president and CEO, including professional development, coalition building, and sustaining a community of practice for equity practitioners navigating uncertainty.
At its core, this episode is a call to remain grounded in values, to support the people doing DEI work, and to remember that changing language should never mean changing commitments to fairness, representation, and opportunity.
KEY POINTS:
- dela Peña’s diverse upbringing shaped her commitment to inclusion
- Early advocacy experiences led her to a lifelong career in higher education
- The pandemic revealed hidden inequities and leadership blind spots
- Institutions must address structural barriers, not just surface-level access
- Fear and misinformation are driving institutional overcorrections
- Lawful, mission-driven leadership remains essential for equity work
- Compliance often means adapting programs, not eliminating them
- Eliminating DEI offices can result in loss of community and support systems
- Coalition building and cross-sector partnerships are key to sustaining DEI work
- Students and committed educators remain the greatest source of hope
QUOTABLES:
“It was such a wonderful experience to have grown up with all of that diversity… and to be welcomed by so many different kinds of families.” — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
“There’s always something under the surface that we need to think about when we are leaders of organizations.” — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
“Our position has always been that we are committed to lawful mission-driven work.” — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
“Our students give me hope… they demand that we live up to the things we say are important to us.” — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
“If we shift language, we don’t have to shift values.” — Dr. Emelyn dela Peña
RESOURCES:
NADOHE Names Dr. Emelyn dela Peña as New President and CEO | The EDU Ledger
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/The-EDU-Ledger
X/Twitter: https://x.com/TheEDULedger
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEDULedger
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheEDULedger
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@TheEDULedger
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/TheEDULedger.bsky.social
WATCH THIS VIDEO AND OTHERS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheEDULedger
Closed captioning and a live show transcription are available in the video for this episode.
In The Margins is produced by The EDU Ledger and edited by EPYC Media Network (visit at https://www.epyc.co/).
