Dr. Delia Fernández-Jones has been named the new director of the Diversity Research Network, a university-wide network connecting faculty, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing research on cultural communities and systemically challenged communities. It is housed in the Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact.
Dr. Fernández-Jones is core faculty in the Chicano/Latino Studies program and an Associate Professor of History in the College of Social Science.
The announcement called Dr. Fernández-Jones “an experienced administrator whose scholarship and leadership have focused on supporting faculty, expanding opportunity and strengthening the connection between research and the communities it serves.” She succeeds Dr. Deborah J. Johnson, the inaugural DRN Director.
“Dr. Fernández-Jones brings to this role a deep understanding of Michigan State University, a strong record of faculty leadership and a commitment to research that serves the public good. She understands firsthand the value of the DRN and the community it has built. She will bolster the strong foundation established by Dr. Johnson while continuing to evolve the network to meet the needs of MSU researchers,” said Dr. Jabbar R. Bennett, Vice President and University Chief Inclusion Officer.
Dr. Fernández-Jones said “I am honored to lead the DRN in its next chapter. As a participant in many of the DRN programs, I know firsthand the impact of its initiatives on my own promotion pathway and my development as an administrator and scholar. I am thrilled to be able to carry on the DRN’s legacy and to continue to meet the needs of our talented faculty as they do critical research that affects so many facets of our society.”
Dr. Fernández-Jones has served since 2024 on the College of Arts & Letters Dean’s Senior Leadership Team as Associate Dean of Inclusive Access and Faculty Affairs. In that role, she has supported faculty affairs and governance, helped lead college-wide initiatives and guided the college through evolving university and federal guidance, and served on both the Council of Inclusive Access Deans and Council of Faculty Affairs Deans.
She previously held leadership roles in CLS and Womxn of Color Initiative. Dr. Fernández-Jones studies Latino migration, activism and placemaking in the Midwest. She is the author of Making the MexiRican City: Mexican and Puerto Rican Migration, Activism, and Placemaking in Grand Rapids, Michigan (University of Illinois Press, 2023), as well as award-winning scholarship on Latines in Michigan.
As Director, Dr. Fernández-Jones will work with DRN Assistant Director Micaela Flores, a Chicano/Latino Studies alumnus, to strengthen the network’s support for researchers across disciplines and career stages, foster connections and collaboration, and identify new ways to meet researchers’ evolving needs.
“I look forward to working closely with CLS and other units around the university that house scholars doing work on cultural communities and systemically challenged communities to support this scholarship. This is critical to living out the university’s obligation to transform lives via the highest caliber research,” she said.
Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Dr. Fernández-Jones is a first-generation college graduate who earned her bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University and her master’s and doctoral degrees in history from The Ohio State University. Her commitment to public history extends beyond MSU through initiatives including the Grandville Avenue Historical Marker Program and Preserving Nuestra Herencia. She also serves on the Michigan Historical Commission and the board of the Historical Society of Michigan.