Above: Dr. Cruz and his wife, Diana Sarmiento-Cruz, take a stroll along Lake Michigan.
The motto, mantra, modus operandi, mission and motivation of MATC’s new president can be summed up in two simple words: students first.
If he had his way, Anthony Cruz, Ed.D., would stitch those words on a sampler, paint them on a framed canvas, emblazon them on a banner and skywrite them against the bright blue heavens. Maybe even tattoo them on his forehead.
Well, okay. Maybe not the tattoo. Dr. Cruz started his tenure as the college’s 11th president on July 15. And to anyone and everyone meeting him, talking to him and listening to him, he quickly, energetically and emphatically makes it clear how important those words are to him. “When I say it, I mean it,” Dr. Cruz said. “I don’t think everyone in higher education believes that. That’s not meant to be malicious.
We need to continue to emphasize it. At our meetings, at our events and at our connections with our community and employee partners, if the word student or students doesn’t come up, there’s something wrong.”
An unexpected offer
It all started with a phone call. Dr. Cruz was well into his fifth year as a campus president at the sprawling Miami Dade College Kendall Campus in Florida and was not considering a career change when the search firm working to find MATC’s new president reached out to him.
“To be honest, I did not know about MATC,” he said. With his curiosity piqued, he took several more phone calls and did some research. He read about the college’s diverse student population, its mission, its wide range of programs, its status as an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution and its financial stability.
“The more I learned, the more it became a combination of an opportunity and a challenge for me,” he said. “The students MATC serves and the ones I have served at the places I have been are very similar: first-generation college students, high financial need, and people looking to improve their lives.
“In the end, MATC had a lot to offer.”
Dr. Cruz applied. After being selected for a first-round interview, he eventually became one of four finalists for the position, and on May 2, the MATC District Board of Directors unanimously voted to hire him.
“The board was particularly impressed by Dr. Cruz’s students- first educational philosophy, his in-depth knowledge of MATC, and the high regard in which he is held by the students, faculty, and administrators with whom he has worked in the past,” MATC District Board Chairperson Mark F. Foley said. Dr. Cruz certainly has the experience MATC wanted in its next leader. He served as president at two of the eight campuses at Miami Dade College, a nationally recognized community college valued for its diversity, affordability, accessible campuses, modern facilities, wide range of programs and extensive support services.
He was president at Miami Dade’s Hialeah campus for two and half years and then president at the Kendall Campus, which serves nearly 30,000 students. Dr. Cruz has also worked extensively in the Midwest. From 2016 to 2019, he was vice chancellor of student affairs at St. Louis Community College, and vice president of enrollment management and student affairs at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, from 2012 to 2016. He was dean of enrollment and student development at Cincinnati State from 2009 to 2012. “I’ve served at every level of administration,” Dr. Cruz said. “All of these experiences have given me a profound understanding of the complexity of the higher education landscape. At every level, I have tried to learn as much as possible.”
Dr. Anthony Cruz meets students at Oak Creek.
Choosing his career path
Dr. Cruz was born in Chicago. His family moved to Florida when he was 9 years old. Both his mother and father worked in factories. In elementary and middle school he gravitated to student government. He graduated from high school and became the first person in his family to attend college.
While working on his bachelor’s degree in political science at Florida International University, he considered becoming a lawyer, until a college class on constitutional law dispelled him of that notion. He contemplated a career in politics and interned for several elected officials in college, but he decided against that career path.
He also thought about working for a municipality, serving as a city manager or county executive. He was looking for a municipal job in 1993 when he saw an ad for a job as an admissions recruiter at Florida International University. "I read it and thought to myself, ‘I can do that,’” he recalled.
He took the job. “I absolutely loved it,” he said.
The college cannot reach its highest level without collaboration with our community partners. We need to work with others to make MATC bigger, better and more accessible.
Later, a friend lured him into the financial services business, and he became a stockbroker for a few years. But a long commute, lower- than-expected earnings and nagging job dissatisfaction pulled him back into education for good. He was hired as director of advising at an online college based in Boca Raton. When he started, he was a staff of one serving 300 students. Within a year, he had a staff of 16 advisors working with 5,000 students. “I needed to go back,” he said. “And I was so happy that I did.” Dr. Cruz went on to earn a Master in Public Administration from Florida State University and a doctorate in higher education from Florida International University. “I always thought I would end up in some kind of public service,” he said. “I have always been keenly interested in public policy.”
During the Coffee with Cruz events, he energized the crowd, took selfies with students, explained his students-first philosophy and poured coffee for each attendee. Above:
Creating community
More than 30 years later, Dr. Cruz arrived at MATC. He almost immediately made himself known. He held five Coffee with Cruz events at the college’s four campuses and the MATC Education Center at Walker’s Square, pouring coffee and chatting with hundreds of students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Cruz, who often updates his own accounts on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, encouraged them to post their experiences on social media. “He is very engaged, and I think that’s what we need right now,” said Dr. Nicole Tanner, the college’s director of admissions and testing and interim executive director at Walker’s Square.
At Miami Dade, Dr. Cruz was all about engagement. He organized social events like Coladas with Cruz and Pizza with the Prez, launched an esports room and brought Chick-fil-A and Starbucks to campus. At Hialeah, he created a monthly social media show about the community. Going forward at MATC, he will continue to host Coffee with Cruz gatherings to foster greater engagement. “Colleges need to adapt to changing landscapes and leverage marketing to promote a sense of community and belonging,” he said. “We need to amplify our value, highlight our services, showcase our campus events and celebrate our achievements.” And it didn’t take him long to become the college’s biggest fan, said Jaime Hurtado, who is the owner and founder of Insulation Technologies Inc. and serves on the board of the college’s philanthropic partner, the MATC Foundation. “I was really impressed with his ability to speak on the initiatives of the college and how he already has made them his own,” Hurtado said. “You can feel that when you speak with him. When you look for a leader, you look for authenticity, integrity and love. He leaves you feeling all of that.”
A bigger and better MATC
Personally, he and his wife, Diana Sarmiento-Cruz, are establishing their home in Milwaukee. The couple met in college, have been married for 30 years and have two grown children. Their son, James, works in healthcare in Ohio, and their daughter, Caroline, is a certified public accountant in Chicago.
Professionally, his immediate goals are to increase MATC’s enrollment, and to reinforce and expand the college’s community partnerships. “The college cannot reach its highest level without collaboration with our community partners,” he said. “We need to work with others to make MATC bigger, better and more accessible.”
Hurtado, who belongs to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce board, said Dr. Cruz is well positioned to connect with regional businesses and stake MATC’s claim as the leader in workforce development. “There are so many opportunities on the horizon,” Hurtado said. “By working with businesses and visiting groups like the chamber, he can put us in the forefront.”
Most of all, Dr. Cruz is looking forward to seeing the students come to MATC and transform their lives. "It’s amazing to see a new wave of students coming every year. That’s one of the first things I noticed when I started working in higher education. There is always someone new looking to start their journey,” he said. “That’s something very different from what you see in any other business or industry. And it’s very special.” ■