Fernando Chang-Muy is a lawyer, activist, and strategic business adviser. He is the Thomas O'Boyle Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Chang-Muy also teaches courses at the Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice on topics such as US immigration law, international human rights and refugee law, and nonprofit leadership.
Chang-Muy has expansive, parallel careers in immigration and refugee law, education, philanthropy, and leadership development. He served as a legal officer with both the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Program. He also served as the first director of Swarthmore College’s Intercultural Center, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, advisor to the Provost on Equal Opportunity, and lecturer on International Human Rights in the Peace and Conflict Studies.
Chang-Muy began his legal career as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia serving as Director of the Southeast Asian Refugee Project, providing free legal aid to low-income immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia. He is also the past founding director of the Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, a project of Lutheran Children and Family Services, established to serve newcomers fleeing human rights violations.
In addition to teaching, Chang-Muy combines his experience in academia and operations as principal and founder of Solutions International, providing independent management consulting, facilitation, and training to philanthropic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. His areas of expertise include designing and facilitating large group, action-focused strategic planning processes, board governance retreats, staff internal communications systems, and resource development plans, and individual donor campaigns.
Chang-Muy currently serves on the Leadership Council of the Philadelphia COVID-19 Fund, which has raised 18M for grants to local nonprofits. He also serves on the Board of the Philadelphia Foundation and its Grants Committee. In 2008, former Philadelphia Mayor Nutter appointed Chung-Muy as a Commissioner to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. He is a former board member of Philanthropy Network, The Philadelphia Award, The Merchants Fund, the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, and the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Coalition. He is the author of numerous articles on diverse topics dealing with immigration and refugees, public health and management, and is coeditor of Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees (2nd ed. NY: Springer Publication, 2016) and contributing author to other diverse publications.
Chung-Muy is a graduate of Loyola, Georgetown, Antioch, and Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. He is a recipient of both the 2011 and 2018 Penn Law Public Interest Supervisor/Advisor of the Year Award honoring outstanding project supervisors and advisors and the 2016 recipient of the Law School Beacon Award, recognizing exemplary commitment to pro bono work by a Penn Law faculty member.
