José Cruz

José leads the higher education policy and practice work at The Education Trust.  He oversees the national Access to Success Initiative (20 public university systems) and has recently been involved in separate efforts to regulate the for-profit college industry and to save the Federal Pell Grant Program.  José is former vice president for student affairs of the University of Puerto Rico System (UPR), where he oversaw admissions, financial aid, and student-life programs. He also served as UPR’s executive director for strategic planning and cofounded Puerto Rico’s K-16 Council. He previously served as professor and chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and as dean of academic affairs of the UPR Mayagüez campus, where he led several research projects with significant K-12 STEM student outreach and teacher training components. He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he has published extensively in international scientific journals and for technical conferences. A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, he received the National Science Foundation Career Award.  Active in industry, José is a patented inventor.