Cesar Cruz

César Cruz is a gang violence prevention advocate and Dean of Secondary Schools Program at Harvard University. He was born in Guadalajara c. 1974, coming to the United States as an undocumented immigrant at age 9, and holds a B.A. in history from UC Berkeley, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education. On May 1, 1992, he was one of 65 people arrested marching on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge after the acquittal of officers charged with beating Rodney King. In 1995, he was involved in a fifteen-day hunger strike at University of California, Irvine. The 1995 strike was undertaken by Cruz and others from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine to protect and promote affirmative action at UC Irvine. Cruz was later part of a 26-day hunger strike in 2004, which resulted in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger agreeing to refinance the West Contra Costa Unified School District's high interest loans. He was keynote speaker for the Cesar Chavez Convocation at UC Santa Cruz in 2014 and Hermanos Unidos National Conference at California State University, Fullerton in 2017. Research at Homeboy Industries, a job skills program in the Los Angeles area for gang members, served as his Harvard doctoral capstone work. He was the first male Mexican-immigrant to earn a doctorate at Harvard's Education Leadership program.

He was awarded the Orange County Human Rights Award in 1995 and the Peacemaker of the Year award by the California State Senate in 2005. In 2011, he was awarded a local Jefferson Award for Public Service for his work with the Homies Empowerment program.