Speaker 1:
Well, welcome back to the podcast. Today we are honored to have the 17th president of NAU, Jose Luis Cruz Rivera. Mr. President, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
Jose:
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:
Well, it seems like just yesterday, but now I think almost coming up on two years.
Jose:
Two years.
Speaker 1:
I think people had an opportunity to meet you, but for those who haven't, talk to us a little bit about your background. How you got to NAU, and maybe something on your bio that we wouldn't know about. Maybe that's not on your bio.
Jose:
Sure. Well, it's quite a story. I'll start by saying that I am the oldest of four, father of five, grandfather of two. I was born in Puerto Rico, but raised not only on the island, but also in Florida, California, Honduras, and in various cities within each one of those places. I made my way back to Puerto Rico, graduated from high school, and trained as an engineer, electrical engineer. I did my undergrad at the University of Puerto Rico, then went to Georgia Tech.
Speaker 1:
Is that something you wanted to do? How did you find your way into engineering?
Jose:
Well, it's one of those things where your parents and your faculty, staff, friends say, "Well, you're good at math and science, so you should be an engineer." I really didn't know, to tell you the truth, at the beginning what that entailed. But as I went through the program, I really got to enjoy the work. Went on to get my PhD at Georgia Tech, went back to Puerto Rico as a faculty member, and that's when the story really starts in terms of the trajectory to NAU.
I spent about 12 or 15 years doing the faculty research service teaching work at the University of Puerto Rico, my alma mater. Then quickly went on to the administrative route, so department chair, dean, went to the system office as the chief student affairs officer. And then about 12 years ago, my family and I decided to move stateside, so we went to Washington DC to a nonprofit organization focused on educational issues. Then to the west, Cal State Fullerton in Southern California as the provost. Then back east to New York City where I was the president of Lehman College in the Bronx, and then the executive Vice Chancellor for the 25 campus City University of New York system, which serves half a million students.
Speaker 1:
It's just amazing. It's such a huge system.
Jose:
It is. It is. And it's got a beautiful mission. It was established by law to serve as a vehicle of economic mobility for the disadvantaged peoples of New York City. It's just a wonderful place. And then about two years ago, still in the middle of the pandemic, the opportunity to come to NAU arose. And my wife and I, who we met as faculty members at the University of Puerto Rico, one of our first trips together outside of the island was to Flagstaff.
Speaker 1:
Really?
Jose:
We went to the Grand Canyon, we went to Sedona. And we always had this idea that one day we will live up here. And before we knew it, we had been given the opportunity of a lifetime to serve NAU.
Speaker 1:
It's almost like it was supposed to happen.
Jose:
I think so. And the last two years have been really a reflection of how right the fit has been in terms not only of us personally as a family, really enjoying Flagstaff in Arizona as a whole, but also in terms of the professional connection. The work that we have been doing throughout our career really now sees a place at NAU where it can really help lift our aspirations as a university.
Speaker 1:
Well, and certainly Sedona and Flagstaff has this amazing charm. And the Grand Canyon, of course. What was it about NAU that caught your attention? A lot of experience, you could have gone anywhere, but NAU obviously had something that caught your attention.
Jose:
Well, NAU has a 124 year legacy of serving the state of Arizona, and beyond. As you know, it started as a teacher's college. And that connection to the students and the learning process is part of the DNA of the institution. And so when I was approached about the opportunity and decided to go through the interviewing process, and whatnot, I was intrigued at first by the opportunity to build on the foundation of NAU, to expand access to its excellent education. But as I went along, I was more inspired by the fact that the faculty, the staff, the students, the alums, even the Arizona Board of Regions. What they were looking for was an opportunity to, in the next several years, to differentiate NAU from our powerhouse institutions, U of A and ASU. By really focusing in on, how do we expand access to this excellent education to more people in Arizona, and beyond, so that they too can contribute to the significant economic growth this state has presently?
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. And I love the niche. Before we move on, and I want to talk about this last two years, something about you that maybe people wouldn't know. It seems like an open book, and travel, and you're certainly not afraid to move all over the world. But what would be something that we wouldn't know about you?
Jose:
I'm very much of an introvert. And if you ask me, well, what do you do on your time off? I'll tell you, I'll just binge a good TV show and maybe poke my nose into a new book that I haven't read before. And so that sometimes catches people off guard, given the type of work I do. Today I started at 7:00 AM, and I go through 8:00 PM in meetings and talking to donors and elected officials and community partners. And then eventually you have to crash.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Jose:
And re-energize to continue the work.
Speaker 1:
Well, I don't have his permission, so I can't name the name. But you have a colleague in Arizona that has a very similar position, has that same description, very public, but also really introverted. So you're not alone. Looking back, and it's great imagining that this has been two years and the amount of time that you've been here, the change that you've made. When I think about it, and I have to say I'm an alum of NAU, I have a really special place in my heart for NAU. But as I've watched you, I think the word that I think about is intentional. There's a lot of intentionality. I don't think that you're just coming in here and saying, well, we're just going to run the school. You're thinking about the why proposition. And talk to us a little bit about those last two years and that intentionality.
Jose:
Well, I had this interesting opportunity when I transitioned into the role, having served several universities at the institution level and at the system level across the country. And then coming in with the opportunity to move to Flagstaff a couple of months before my actual start date, that transition period allowed me to really listen and learn about the history of the university. And more importantly, about the aspirations of the community. Of teachers, learners, and scholars that drive the work. And through that process, we were able to... On day one, I started June 14th two years ago. On day one, really articulate a vision statement for the university that really resonated.
Speaker 1:
You did that. I remember talking to a lot of folks up there, faculty and staff, that you actually said that's what you were working on.
Jose:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
That was the idea coming in.
Jose:
That was the idea. Once we had that vision statement, then it was about, how do we organize the work and how do we pace it over time? And how do we do it in a way that is consistent with the backdrop against which we operate, the social and political and the financial backdrop? And so it took us about six months after I started to put all of that in writing, those aspirations. Not only the vision, but how do we get there through what we call the NAU 2025 Elevating Excellence Strategic Roadmap? It's got seven pillars, and it's got our values infused throughout. And so once we had that, we knew, okay, now we have an opportunity. Because the planets were aligned, the faculty, the staff, the students, our alums were all participants in crafting that document. And our board unanimously approved it. So there's nothing stopping us from meeting our aspirations except the hard work that we need to do.
Speaker 1:
Coming obviously not from Arizona, but known nationally, but not really in Arizona. Did you get pushback at the beginning? Was there some skepticism when you walked in the door and said, "Here's what we're going to do and we're going to include you."?
Jose:
Of all of the transitions I mentioned that brought me to NAU, this has been the smoothest one by far. And I think it has to do with the fact that I have some baggage, some experience in how to managing these transitions. But more importantly, that the direction that the board wanted for the university, which is not common, was very much aligned with the aspirations of the people that make this university their life. And so I was put in this very interesting position where I could bring to bear my experiences to advance the aspirations of a community that had the backing of their board. And when you look across the nation, that's very rare. And that's why we made our plan a 2025 plan. Because we said, well, you never know what could happen in the future, so let's get going. And in the past two years I've been really gratified to see how many of the bold initiatives that perhaps will have taken years, even in New York City, in California, other places I've been to take hold, are already in place. We're moving forward and we're seeing results.
Speaker 1:
Well, it sounds like it was just really articulating what we all knew, it just hadn't been articulated.
Jose:
Articulated, and I think provided with a sense of reality. In the sense that we have a lot of aspirations, regardless of our fields and our disciplines or business sectors. We all have goals and aspirations, but sometimes the resistance, even if it's just in our minds of really driving towards them, stands in the way. And in this case, when I was brought in, there was some materials that were prepared for potential candidates for president. And the brochure that described NAU, the cover said, "A bold and boundless future." And that's really has been driving a lot of the work that we are doing. We've taken it to heart.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. And that's back to that intentionality. When you're meeting with your colleagues in the national conference and they say, "Well, you got ASU and U of A," how do you describe NAU to them?
Jose:
Well, to NAUers we are the access and opportunity institution in Arizona. Not to say that U of A and ASU are not. But as we all know, ASU is out to conquer the world with its innovation and its new view of a university. Michael Crow, of course, is a jewel in higher ed. A rockstar. Then you have U of A really with its space exploration and medical advancements, and an elite education that it provides. And really helps a position Arizona among the top states in the country in terms of the quality of higher ed. And then you have NAU, which is smaller. People think of us as being in Flagstaff, but we really have 20 sites across the state, including one of our larger sites in Yuma. And so what we have been focusing on in is, what is our niche? What is our lane? Our lane is recognizing that even with our powerhouse institutions, even with a booming economy, one of the fastest growing in the country, the reality remains that seven out of every 10 new high paying jobs requires a postsecondary degree.
And in Arizona, the educational attainment is among the lowest in the country. In fact, if you are a ninth grader today in Arizona, the chance of you having a bachelor's degree by the year 2030 is 17%. We, at NAU, have said there is a lot of opportunity to really focus in on the people of Arizona and the communities we serve, and make sure that nobody's left behind. We don't want all those high paying, high demand, high skills jobs coming in to bring people attached to them. We want the people of Arizona to have an opportunity. And so that's our differentiator. It's not to say that we're not doing high impact research, that we're not collaborating with our sister institutions in advancing the important work of knowledge creation and workforce development. But it is to say that we have a particular focus, which is connecting the talent of the people of Arizona with real opportunities that will provide them for a better life.
Speaker 1:
Well, in a state where there are more jobs than people, and more and more skills are needed, NAU is filling such a critical role. You mentioned the idea that we're going to give people opportunity. There's something called the Arizona Attainment Alliance, which is a partnership between the ACA, the Arizona Commerce Authority, and the community college system. Talk to us a little bit about that universal admissions policy.
Jose:
As we're thinking about, how do we expand access to opportunity, we go back to our vision statement from the beginning when we started the presidency. Which was that we wanted to be recognized nationally as a preeminent engine of opportunity, which speaks to that access piece. A vehicle of upward mobility, which speaks to our ability to provide students, prepare them for careers of consequence. And driver of social impact, which speaks to our aspiration that our graduates can then invest their time, talent, and energy in advancing the needs of our society. And so when we look at that vision statement, and we look at the magnitude of the challenge in Arizona, given the numbers I mentioned a minute ago, we realize we can't do this alone. We certainly are doing it in partnership with U of A and ASU, but we still can't do it alone.
Now, there are 10 community college districts across the state. There's no coordinating agency, they all have their own boards. And we figured that one way to meet that challenge, the magnitude of the challenge was through the coherence of our actions. We worked with the 10 community college district presidents and chancellors and said, "Hey, how about we come together under what we're calling the A++ initiative at Arizona Attainment Alliance. And give ourselves a year to figure out, what are some things, some low hanging fruit for the short-term, and perhaps some more ambitious things for the long-term that we could do together?" Not to the exclusion of other higher ed institutions in the state, but things that we could do together given our commitment to access. And so we have been working for about a year now. We brought in the Arizona Commerce Authority, because they are the ones that are helping attract those absolutely high paying jobs. And they have the projections of what the workforce needs are.
And we've put together, in the summer we'll be announcing a five-year plan with several initiatives. But the first one we've all agreed on, which I'm really proud about, is the Universal Admissions program. And here's the interesting thing there. NAU receives thousands of applicants every year. And in the past, we would admit a good number of those applicants, and we would reject a good number of those applicants. From now on, with A++, we're going to reject zero applicants. Because if you're a student in Arizona that has college going aspirations, we want to make sure that you have a shot admitting your full potential. If you apply to NAU and you're just not quite ready, we are going to redirect you to your local community college, with a promise that once you're ready you are automatically admitted at NAU.
You don't have to apply again, we don't have to reconsider what courses you bring with you or whatever, you are a NAU student. We're just admitting you two years down the line, go to this community college. And we're working on our data infrastructure so that it's a very seamless process. So you get the letter of admissions to Yavapai Community College or Coconino Community College, and you just click, you're admitted, and you're on your way to be a NAU at Lumberjack.
Speaker 1:
Well, what I like about it is the elegance of that program is the simplicity. You weren't trying to boil the ocean, but you saw some really low hanging fruit, which you're absolutely correct. And how do we just address that? And I'm assuming that's going to have a pretty significant impact just in the beginning.
Jose:
It is, and we're already seeing this. We started a pilot with our sister community College, Coconino Community College. They've received hundreds of applicants that had not applied to Coconino Community College, had applied to NAU, but now have been given the opportunity to start at CCC. It's helping their enrollment, it's helping the pipeline for us for future transfer students. And again, it's saying yes but, or yes and, instead of no, you have not been accepted at NAU. The simplicity of the program and the potential impact, which we'll see and measure over time, has allowed us to partner with philanthropic organizations. I'm not quite ready to make a major announcement today, but the idea is that NAU, with philanthropic support, will be able to provide scholarships to students at community colleges who have expressed their intent to transfer to NAU. So even to the point of NAU saying, we're going to work to secure funding for community college students, because we want to support them even if they're not our students yet, because they may be. And that's part of the intentionality that you were mentioning earlier.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, that's a great way to get people into the system and growing. And I think, given what you talked about in terms of the skillsets that are needed and what's coming into the market, it is in vogue these days to say you don't have to go to college, or not all kids go to college. How do you react to that? What are your reaction?
Jose:
Well, my reaction is that all kids should have the choice to go to college. And for them to have the choice to go to college, we have to work with our K-12 partners to ensure that the students can develop the aspirations for higher education, and the preparation so that they can then apply, be admitted, and be successful in college. Clearly, there are very different ways in which we can slice the data, but a college education is the best predictor of a life of purpose and a career of consequence. And the economic and social and health indicators that separate those with a college degree and those without a college degree are significant. And they have been studied relentlessly. From the standpoint of NAU, we're not saying everybody needs to go to college, but we're saying we're going to make sure that even if it's just an inkling in your mind that you perhaps may want to go to college, that we eliminate as much friction as possible so you can get there.
Speaker 1:
Well, let me then follow up that with another question, because it seems like we're really focused on STEM careers. And clearly we just brought TSMC into Maricopa County. And really, that that's a statewide play. And so there's a lot of demands there. But what about liberal arts? Is liberal arts dead? Do we need to just forget about liberal arts education, or is there still a value in a liberal arts education?
Jose:
I think there's a huge value in liberal arts education. And the way that we're approaching it is by ensuring that the components, the main elements of liberal arts education, the skillsets around critical thinking and how to best engage with a very complex and diverse and ever-changing world, that those skill sets are maintained. But that then they're also complimented with some additional education that will be better tailored to the entry points into the workforce, data science and other things like that. What we have found is that while there is a variation in terms of the starting salaries for liberal arts students versus STEM, over time the liberal arts students tend to surpass STEM graduates, because they have the ability to get into those higher paying management and leadership roles that perhaps is a little bit more difficult for STEM graduates like myself who are still trying to learn the ways of the world, if you will.
Speaker 1:
It's not black and white. And as a former political science major at NAU, I thank you for not getting rid of the liberal arts. The other thing that I think NAU's really known for is very strong nursing program. And prior to the pandemic, I think we were glad it was there. We appreciated it. Today, along with our other universities, it is a critical part of what's happening in Arizona. Talk to us a little bit about how you're looking at this. There's a huge demand now because people that were in the profession maybe aren't in it anymore. And how are you working with the hospital system in healthcare to fill that gap?
Jose:
Yes, that's a really good point. And we're very fortunate that through investments that the state has made in the new economy initiative, that NAU has been able to rise to the challenge. In the next five years we will have 1,500 more students in not only nursing, but also other important allied health fields that are in deep demand in Arizona. And in the next 20 years, this increase in our contributions to the workforce in allied health and nursing represents over $20 billion in increased revenue for the state. We are really focusing in on that distinctive excellence that we already have in those fields. How we're doing it is by dramatically expanding not only the number of students that we're serving, but where we are serving them. We're creating more sites across the state where students can study for these professions. We're also changing the modalities.
We will, of course, continue with our in-person traditional nursing programs and allied health programs, but we also have online. We have compressed programs for those that really want to accelerate their learning. And then we have accelerated programs which take advantage of the fact that a lot of our people here in Arizona, and across the country, are thinking about changing careers. And so if you have a bachelor's degree in a particular area, within 14 months you can be a nurse. Very rigorous programs that will get you there. As part of this, of course, we're partnering with health organizations throughout the state to ensure that our students have the placements they need. But we're also looking at, how do we ensure that we're not only producing the graduates in these areas, but that they have the cultural skills to better serve the diverse communities of our state? That's something that is at the curricular level that our faculty are working on them that we are very excited about.
Speaker 1:
And such a critical component of that work. When you're talking about these programs, are we talking BSNs?
Jose:
We're talking BSNs, we're also talking programs through the A++ alliance. We'll be doing more at the associates level as well, making sure-
Speaker 1:
Allied.
Jose:
Yes, allied health. Making sure that those programs at the community colleges can then be, through stackable credentials, allow those graduates to progress in their careers.
Speaker 1:
And lifelong learning opportunities.
Jose:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
And probably, it seems to be universal, at least in Arizona, that healthcare seems to be very well articulated for kids. How are you articulating other careers for kids, and what's the strategy for talking to business about what their needs are going to be looking around the corner?
Jose:
Right now we've been focusing a lot through the Arizona Attainment Alliance on looking ahead. We have been working with the Arizona Commerce Authority on trying to get a good understanding of what the new jobs of the future are, what the skillsets are, and what the industry sectors and geographical locations across the state are, so that we can identify a set of core pathways, academic pathways, that will connect students to high demand high school, high wage jobs. That's part of the A++ plan that we're putting together that we hope to announce during the summer on how we, over the next five years, will articulate those pathways.
We're also looking at existing needs, and this goes to our healthcare conversation. The fact is that Arizona is one of the states that has the highest percentage of health deserts. And so that's how we are looking at that data, is how we are planning the rollout of our new programs and the types of modalities we have. And we're also not being aloof, if you will, with respect to new enterprises, tech startups and so forth, and seeing what connection we can have there with our programs across the state.
Speaker 1:
It goes back to listening.
Jose:
That's right.
Speaker 1:
And I think it should be said too, back in the day when I was at NAU, I worked at distance learning. And really, I remember taking classes that were equivalent of today's Zoom meetings, and this is way long ago. So you have good experience of doing this all around the state in a way that produces excellent results. And you can do this with nursing and other disciplines as well.
Jose:
That's right. That's right. NAU was a leader in tele education way back when. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
I remember, back in the day, Dr. Ben Susan, hopefully still around. There was a big splash last week, I believe. The Arizona Institute for Education in the Economy was a big announcement. But then for us, a big deal that you've tapped Chad Gaston, superintendent of the Phoenix Union, who's a great friend of the Chamber, and has done so much in education to lead that. You want to talk to us a little bit about that initiative?
Jose:
Yeah. We are so privileged that Chad will be part of our university efforts. Chad, of course, is a Lumberjack as well. He's an alum. And has done so much for education, not only here in Arizona, but in Phoenix and in Arizona, but nationally. We were able to come to terms with a vision articulated primarily by Chad, but very much in alignment with where NAU A wants to head around listening. Bringing and convening all of the major players into conversations that would allow us to lead to solutions. K-12, the NGOs, the employers, elected officials, policy makers, to allow us to look at the K-12 piece. We've talked about the Arizona Attainment Alliance, that's community colleges and NAU. This will allow us to, through Chad's efforts, to be able to connect with this broader community, and then make sure that that pipeline is well aligned. We also were very fortunate to have some foundation investments that will allow us to start up with this institute, and we're very excited to get it rolling.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it was a big announcement. I think people were really surprised, in a good way. And it's nice that you're going to have that compliment the work that you're doing at the community college level. It didn't go unnoticed, at least by me, that NAU launched a university website that was in Spanish.
Jose:
Oh, yes.
Speaker 1:
Why? Why was that something that you decided to do now, and what are you hoping to get from that?
Jose:
Yes. Well, as we look at the demographics in the state and the Spanish-speaking population, and our commitment to meet students where they are. To meet students where they are, you have to meet students and their parents where they are. And we realized that just having a Google Translate version of our website was not going to cut it. So we, from the ground up, developed a Spanish website geared both to parents and students that have the main elements of what it is to pursue an education at NAU, and what support services are available. This is part of not only our attempt to expand and broaden participation, expand access and broader participation, but also part of our commitment as a newly designated Hispanic serving institution.
Over one-quarter of all of our students at NAU are identified as Hispanic or Latino, and so we felt that it was an important thing to do. And interestingly enough, we were doing this of course for all the right reasons, but we never expected the great feedback that we have been getting. It's really been striking to see how people appreciate that now they have, students in particular, have a site that they can share with their parents who may not be as fluent in English just yet to see what they're thinking about.
Speaker 1:
Well, having my only son go to college this year, that's daunting. It's scary. And to not be able to read or understand what's happening would be very difficult. And to have it in my language would be wonderful. I can imagine why you got that response from the families. Let's talk about biggest challenges so far. What's been the biggest challenge, and also biggest achievement, besides beating U of A?
Jose:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
We did do that, right?
Jose:
Yeah. I think we beat them by 21 to 19.
Speaker 1:
Not that we're counting.
Jose:
Not that we're counting. Was two years ago. The first time in 86 years, so that was a big accomplishment. We still talk about it on campus. The biggest challenge? There have been several challenges. On the political front, the financial front, even at the community level. NAU, Flagstaff is a particularly large entity in a small college town, and so there are always some challenges that we have had to navigate. But I think the biggest challenge has been now that we have this roadmap, and that we have support from the philanthropic, the industrial, the private sector, elected officials and so forth, is how to organize and pace the work in a way that will be productive. The partnerships that we have to develop in the state and outside of the state. The orchestration of the new NAU, of getting to be the new NAU has been the biggest challenge. But it's a challenge that we have really good talented people working on every day.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's probably tempting to want to get it done as fast as possible, because it's exciting.
Jose:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
But that's probably not the way to go.
Jose:
Exactly. And there's important sequencing issues and so forth, but we have very, very talented administrators and leaders and faculty members at NAU. And so far so good. In terms of achievements, I would say that there's this portfolio of policy changes and new practices that we have put together in two years to advance that plan, NAU 2025. It's impressive. It's gotten us a lot of national attention, and there will be more to come as we head into commencement season that we will soon be communicating. But national attention from the perspective of, we're saying we're going to expand access. We look at our data, we realize that we have 16 core courses that we require high school students to take before they can be admitted to NAU. And then we dig deeper and see that 20% of all high schools in Arizona do not offer those 16 courses, because there's only 14 required by the state for high school graduation.
So we go to the board and we say, "Hey, we want to do a pilot where we admit students with the 14 that they get from high school." That affects 50,000 students. That's a big policy change. And we did that within the first nine months. Then we start looking at our numbers and realize, well, the medium household income in Arizona is around $62,000 a year. How about we communicate to families that if you make less than $65,000 a year, you can go to NAU tuition-free. Clear message, it's not dependent on you fighting the FAFSA and waiting for the federal government to send you a letter, and for NAU to evaluate it and tell you how much we're going to give you. We're going to say it up front, because it goes to aspirations. You can visualize yourself.
We went to the board. The board, again, very supportive, gave us the opportunity to launch the Access2Excellence initiative. Then we said, well, income is one thing, but we also have a commitment to our indigenous people. This should be available to members of any of the 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona, regardless of where they live in Arizona or elsewhere. So we expanded it to our indigenous students. And then as we've been discussing, we realized that we could be the best university in the world in terms of connecting talent with opportunity, but there's a limit to our size. Yet, there are all of these community colleges across the state serving over 300,000 students. How do we partner with them in a mutually beneficial way? There's always competition, but in a mutually beneficial way, how do we do that to the benefit of the people of Arizona? And so we established the A++. And I could go on and on, but it's the portfolio of things we've been able to do in two years that I think has been our biggest achievement.
Speaker 1:
And I congratulate you, first of all, for not being afraid to partner because this competition. And second of all, for taking the program for people that make under 65,000 and not making it so difficult that don't want to apply. You have the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Jose:
Exactly.
Speaker 1:
I think that's really critical, and a sign of strong leadership. Thank you for that. The other question I want to ask is about the business community and how the business community can support NAU. And someone might be listening going, well, that's in Flagstaff. But the reality is, and we've been talking about this, but it's also around the state. And we also had a celebration here at the biomedical campus.
Jose:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
10 years?
Jose:
Yes, 10 years.
Speaker 1:
NAU is firmly entrenched in Phoenix as well. And we talked about healthcare, certainly that's a part of it. How can the business community better support NAU, or just support NAU?
Jose:
Well, a few things. And first of all, I must say that I'm very grateful for the support we do get from the Chamber, from the GPL, SALC, NALA in northern Arizona. We're very grateful for that support. But generally speaking, there's the dimension around elevating the value proposition of NAU, U of A, and ASU, of our public universities in the eyes of the policy makers. So that more state investment will flow to students directly, or to the universities so that we can accelerate our plans to increase attainment so that we can meet the workforce needs of the present and the future. There's the policymaking-advocacy side of things. There's also, of course, as we look at strengthening the value that our students bring to not only their employers, but also society more generally, is looking at ways in which we can expand internship opportunities for our students.
We know that that's a big differentiator, not only for them economically, which is money that then the students can use to further their education, but also that by the time they graduate, they are better prepared to hit the ground running. And we also know that it also impacts their starting salary, which we'll track over their lifetimes. Internship opportunities are also very, very important. And of course, thinking of us as the think tank of the state of Arizona, we have world-class researchers and scholars that can pretty much help with any problem any industry may be confronting. Those partnerships also are very important.
Speaker 1:
A lot of potential there for partnership. And I agree with you, the internships is such a win-win for business and for these kids.
Jose:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Well, Dr. Cruz, I want to thank you for spending so much time with us. We want to do a quick lightning round with you. and you're used to these now because we've done them with me before. I got a chuckle when we had you and Dr. Crow and Dr. Robbins together, because it was clear that there were some boomers in the room and you were one of them, and I asked about social media. And you're very active. Favorite social media outlet, which is the one you like to use most? It seems like I see a lot on Twitter, but also Facebook.
Jose:
Yes. Lately it's Instagram. I will confess that I deactivated my Twitter account because of issues that many people know about. But I'm more into Instagram. And you know what I found is that that's where our students are. While I was in Twitter and LinkedIn, you're talking to different audiences, but I'm enjoying talking directly to the students through Instagram.
Speaker 1:
Excellent. Some people may have heard this before if they came to our event. But, first job?
Jose:
My first job was an internship, actually was in college. I started college as a freshman at age 16. And so a year in I took an internship job at Amper, which is a telecommunications company in Madrid, Spain.
Speaker 1:
Well, and it goes back to this idea of internships.
Jose:
That's right.
Speaker 1:
Okay. Now, the rules of this game are that you can't say your current job, which is obviously amazing, but your dream job. I asked the governor, for instance, her answer was, she wants to be a park... When she's done with her eight years, she says, wants to be a park host in a campground and just enjoy nature. What would be your dream job?
Jose:
Thinker?
Speaker 1:
A thinker?
Jose:
Just spend my life thinking.
Speaker 1:
You have a similar answer to Jim Rounds, our favorite economist. And he answered, he wants to set up shop between the House and the Senate and write economist. So that's a good answer. What's your hidden talent?
Jose:
My hidden talent?
Speaker 1:
What hidden talent do you have?
Jose:
Well, I will say dancing. My kids will say that's not true.
Speaker 1:
Salsa? Merengue?
Jose:
Anything. But it's really just my dad dancing skills.
Speaker 1:
Oh. So that's not good. Okay, we won't embarrass them then. And then finally, when the movie comes out, who's going to play you in the movie?
Jose:
Oh, my God. That's a really good question. I have no idea. Hugh... No.
Speaker 1:
Hugh Grant?
Jose:
No, no. That would be... I have no idea.
Speaker 1:
Okay. We're going to have-
Jose:
Who would you think should play me?
Speaker 1:
Someone obviously good-looking and smart. We're going to have to maybe... Jimmy Smits comes a bit younger.
Jose:
Jimmy Smits, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I think.
Jose:
I got to grow a little older for him to be-
Speaker 1:
Well, that's what I'm saying, younger. Back in the day I used to watch LA Law.
Jose:
That's right he was on that too.
Speaker 1:
I thought that was kind of a cool, he's kind of a cool guy. All right. Are you okay with that one?
Jose:
Let's do with Jimmy Smits.
Speaker 1:
All right. Bit younger.
Jose:
Younger.
Speaker 1:
Just so everyone knows that. Well, thank you again. Thank you for taking so much time with us, but more importantly for the incredible work you're doing for our students at NAU, but also for Arizona.
Jose:
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:
Okay.