Anthony Cruz is the new vice president of the Enrollment Management and Student Affairs office at Sinclair Community College.
He came from Cincinnati State, where he served as dean of enrollment and Student Services.
“The last seven or eight years, I’ve dedicated my career to community colleges, primarily working in student services, student affairs and retention programs,” Cruz said.
Cruz was looking for a position where he could become a better advocate for students and the issues they face in a community college.
“As a dean, [previously] I did not report directly to the president, I reported to the vice president,” Cruz said. “I was not on the president’s cabinet and in this position I am fortunate enough to be on the cabinet.”
When student issues come up, Cruz is now able to feel that he can communicate more directly than he was able to in the past.
He believes improvement is possible within Sinclair regarding completion rates and student engagement and he wants to see positive changes within the time he spends at Sinclair.
“There are things that we all can work on,” Cruz said. “It’s not going to happen just within the division of enrollment management and student affairs, it really has to go across divisions.”
Cruz likes that he can collaborate with other divisions to make the college experience better for students.
One of the changes that Cruz is working on is creating what will be called an “Enrollment Center” for new students in the future.
“On the first floor of [Building 10] is the Admissions Office and then we have Enrollment Services on the fourth floor,” Cruz said. “What we are going to do is combine those two into one.”
Admissions will no longer be on the first floor, but on the fourth floor, where Enrollment Services is located to make the transition into college easier for new students.
“A new prospective student will get through the time they apply through orientation on the fourth floor,” Cruz said. “It’s a way of centralizing our services to make it a little bit easier.”
On a day-to-day basis, Cruz believes his biggest job is advocating for students.
“Whether I’m in the community or here at the college, I need to make sure that I am advocating for students,” he said. “I’m really happy to be here and I’ve got a lot of work to do, but a lot of positive changes will come about.”