About
Dr. Jessica Cruz is the managing director for the Center's Mellon Foundation grant, "Crafting Democratic Futures," part of the Just Futures initiative. In this role, Dr. Cruz will oversee all operations at both the University of Michigan hub as well as the nine institutional partners scattered across the nation. The project seeks to develop reparations solutions driven by intitution-community collaborations.
Dr. Cruz has a demonstrated commitment to place-based, community-driven, and culturally relevant approaches to higher education. Most recently, she served as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Northern Michigan University where she was one of two in the nation selected for the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) Chief Diversity Officer Fellowship and founded Aim North, a placed-based program designed to increased access and retention rates among historically underrepresented students in higher education. Guided by critical race theory, she also transformed the university’s campus cultural center to focus on two priorities: to build and maintain an equitable infrastructure to support Black, Indigenous, Students of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+ students, and more; and, to engage in the transdisciplinary study of equity and social justice.
Dr. Cruz received her BA in French and her BS in Public and Non-Profit Administration with an emphasis on Community Development from Grand Valley State University. She holds an MA, M.Ed., and Ed.D. in International Educational Development, with a specialization in Higher and Post-secondary Education, from Teachers College, Columbia University.
