A Doctorate in Big Ideas

Meet Itzhecatl De La Cruz, a student in the EdD in Leadership and Innovation program…

A long-time education leader and nonprofit program director in California, Itzhecatl De La Cruz (EdD, Leadership and Innovation) has devoted his career to educational access and restorative justice for underserved children and families. When he decided he wanted to expand his ability to create meaningful change in the world, he went searching for a doctoral program with impact.

“I was feeling a little frustrated in my professional career because I had great ideas, but because I didn’t have a doctoral degree behind my name, they were being pushed to the side,” says De La Cruz, who also has his master’s degree in equity and social justice from San Francisco State University. “I wanted to have the backing to be taken more seriously, and that’s when I found NYU Steinhardt.”

A Global, Interdisciplinary Learning Community

De La Cruz was drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of the online EdD in Leadership and Innovation (EDLI) program, from its curriculum that pulls from multiple academic perspectives to the “richness of [his] global cohort,” which includes educators, attorneys, therapists, diplomats, and more from all over the world.

“My favorite thing about the program has been my peer group—their support, energy, and intelligence,” says De La Cruz. “In the first few days of the program, it was clear that they were very considerate in building this cohort and that we were all hand-chosen because we brought different things to the table. For the past year, I have been surrounded by about 30 amazing, brilliant people, which has significantly expanded my own learning.”

Leading Change in Communities around the World

De La Cruz is the director of education at Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice & Empowerment, a community-based nonprofit serving East San José that provides housing support, immigration services, education programs, and more to empower local families. He also works as a restorative justice consultant, exploring harm and healing in environments from schools to prisons.

Beyond the global perspective of the EDLI curriculum and his multidimensional cohort, De La Cruz also chose the EDLI degree for its study away option. As a part of the program’s study-away experience, he will travel to NYU London for a course examining the nature of the creative and cultural industries and the development of cultural entrepreneurship, diplomacy, and cultural exchange in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Before my journey in education, I was an artist, and in hindsight I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I had chosen that path instead,” says De La Cruz, a father of two. “Working in education and for nonprofit spaces means constantly leveraging limited resources. I see art as an outlet for personal growth and a therapeutic tool that can benefit the populations I serve.”

Turning Research into Real-World Solutions

Rather than a traditional dissertation, NYU Steinhardt’s EDLI program incorporates a Problem of Practice (POP), a unique project in which students develop an academically informed solution to a persistent organizational problem throughout the program to create real-world value. De La Cruz’s POP focuses on chronic absenteeism and barriers to education for K–5th students experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County, California.