A native New Orleanian, Dr. Fernandez received his B.A. and M.A. Degrees from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from The College of William and Mary in Virginia. Fernandez teaches courses on early America, the South, the West, and the American hero.

The Loyola Student Alumni Association has twice recognized Dr. Fernandez for meritorious teaching. He has published on topics ranging from the seventeenth-century Chesapeake to the history of law in antebellum South. His recent scholarly activities include A Law Unto Itself? Essays in the New Louisiana Legal History, (Louisiana State University Press, 2001) and From Chaos to Continuity: Evolution of Louisiana's Judicial System, 1712-1862, (Louisiana University Press, 2001) which won the Louisiana Literary Award from the Louisiana Library Association.

He also served as Guest Editor with Jon Kukla for the Journal of the West's special Louisiana Purchase edition which appeared in 2004. In 1993 and 1997, Fernandez received grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to direct Summer Institutes for Teachers; in 1998 he received a Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History for his 1997 Summer Institute, "New Orleans through Its Sources." In 1999, Dr. Fernandez received one of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Special Humanities Awards for his work with the summer institutes.

He is currently Vice-president of the Louisiana Historical Association and a member of the Board of the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival.