Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated theatrical producer.

A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit immigrant storytelling organization Define American, twice named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, and explores all facets of immigration as host of its YouTube show and podcast Define American with Jose Antonio Vargas. He is also a co-founder of 1587 Sneakers, the world’s first Asian American sneaker brand.

His best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. An updated edition with new material for living in Trump’s America was released in June 2025. His second book, due out next year, will examine how diverse immigrant populations are upending America’s foundational Black and White racial binary. He also has a third book in the works about global migration.

Dr. Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham has dedicated over five decades to advancing education as a teacher, scholar, and leader. Her journey began in K–12 classrooms and school systems across California, Texas, Washington State, and Hawai‘i, where she served as a teacher, specialist, and administrator for over 15 years. In 1993, she joined the faculty of the College of Education at Michigan State University, where she earned the rank of Full Professor and led nationally recognized scholarship in Indigenous leadership, education policy, and organizational change. She later returned home to Hawaiʻi to become the inaugural Dean of Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at UH Mānoa, where she led the university’s first Native Hawaiian strategic plan, Ke Au Hou, and co-led the UH System’s Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao (HPOKA) initiative to indigenize higher education. From 2017 to 2025, she served as Chancellor of the University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu, guiding the campus through transformative growth and positioning it as a regional anchor institution and Indigenous place of learning.

Dr. Benham’s scholarly and professional work is deeply grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, educational equity, and community engagement. She has partnered with national and local organizations—including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—to advance place-based education, healing, and systems change. Through numerous federal and foundation grants, she has led initiatives that elevate social justice, reciprocal mentorship, and culturally grounded transformation in higher education. She is the author, co-author, and editor of five books, two academic journals (American Educational Research Journal and Hawaiʻinuiākea Series), and numerous peer-reviewed articles in the areas of Indigenous education, leadership, and community-based scholarship.

Dr. Benham will retire from the University of Hawai‘i on July 1, 2026, and continues to mentor, write, and uplift communities through her enduring commitment to aloha, pilina, and kuleana.

No laila, Ulu a’e ke welina a ke aloha! 

Mahalo nui loa iā ʻoukou pākahi a pau!

E Kūlia i ka nuʻu!

Aloha!

Dr. Sunita “Sunny” Cooke serves as President of MiraCosta College in coastal San Diego County and has dedicated over 30 years to higher education. She earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Georgetown University and completed postdoctoral training at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Her career began as a faculty member in biology and biotechnology at Lone Star College, where she advanced in leadership roles. In 2007, she assumed the presidency of a California community college and has since been a nationally recognized CEO for 19 years.

Under Dr. Cooke’s leadership, MiraCosta College has launched innovative programs, including a pioneering biomanufacturing bachelor’s degree, to meet regional workforce needs. The college has significantly improved graduation and transfer rates while closing equity gaps for historically marginalized students, earning national recognition as an Achieving the Dream Leader College and an Aspen Prize for Excellence semi-finalist. She also spearheaded a major facilities expansion funded by Measure MM, a $455 million bond approved by voters in 2016.

Dr. Cooke’s contributions have been widely acknowledged. She was honored as one of San Diego Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business and received the NAACP Salute to Women of Color in 2016. Since 2019, she has been listed annually among San Diego’s Top 500 Influential Leaders, and in 2020, she received the CEO Award for the Pacific Region from the American Association of Community College Trustees. In 2022, she was named among the Top 50 Women of Influence by the San Diego Business Journal.

A leader in workforce and economic development, Dr. Cooke chaired California’s Statewide Task Force on Workforce and a Strong Economy in 2015, resulting in an ongoing $292 million annual investment in career education through the Strong Workforce Program. 

Dr. Cooke actively serves on local and national boards, including the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (where she co-chairs the Economic Development Committee), Biocom, and local Chambers of Commerce. She is the immediate past chair of the American Association of Community Colleges Board, representing nearly 1,000 colleges nationwide. She is a board member of California Competes, and holds leadership roles with the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Association and the California Community Colleges CEO Board.