2023 Student Success Summit

Dr. Fred Bonner II is Professor and Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership and Counseling and Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the MACH-III Center at Prairie View A&M University. He is formerly the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University and an esteemed expert in the field of diversity in education. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was Professor of Higher Education Administration and Associate Dean of Faculties at Texas A&M University-College Station. He earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of North Texas, an M.S. Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Baylor University, and an Ed.D. in higher education administration & college teaching from the University of Arkansas. Bonner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundation's Dissertation of the Year Award from the University Of Arkansas College of Education. His work has been featured nationally and internationally. He is the author of several books, including "Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P-20 Pipeline," as well as the recently released "Square Pegs and Round Holes: Alternative Approaches to Diverse College Student Development Theory" (2021, Stylus Publishing). Bonner was recently (2020) named Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Regents Professor.

Ruth M. López, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Houston (UH). She earned B.A.s in Mexican American Studies & Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin, and her PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder where she was an Ofelia Miramontes Scholar and a recipient of the AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship. She was previously a Senior Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Most recently, she was the recipient of the 2021 University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award and 2023 Texas TRIO Achiever Award. In her research, Dr. López addresses the social and political contexts that students of color navigate across K-12 schools and their access to higher education. Her research examines: 1) the intersections of education and immigration policies, 2) culturally responsive education and family engagement, and 3) college access for Latinx and immigrant students. Dr. López is proud of her multiple identities as the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico, first-generation college student/graduate, and mother scholar to name a few. These identities inform her commitment to educational equity and college access.