Leo Cruz

Leo Cruz is a lecturer faculty in the Department of Counseling at San Francisco State University. He started his higher education in the California Community College system at Norco College. He went on to transfer and obtained a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He then graduated with his M.S. in College Counseling from San Francisco State University. 

Originally from Southern California, his plan was to obtain his degree and return to work as a community college counselor. He later realized that the SFSU counseling network allowed him to find a new community and a new home. Having interned at San Francisco State and College of San Mateo allowed him to expand his network and get adjunct counseling experience upon graduating from the counseling program. He has always had an interest in working with programs that focus on serving students who have been historically marginalized/underrepresented, working with first-generation students, and working with programs that are based on a cohort/caseload model with the goal to increase retention and graduation rates. He enjoys intentionally working in cohort/caseload model programs as it allows him to build strong rapport with students and to maximize his counseling skills. He has worked with MEChA Calmecac at UCLA, the Metro College Success Program at SFSU, EOP&S at De Anza College, and currently works with the Promise Scholars Program at College of San Mateo (CSM). In his current role at CSM he is a full-time tenure track counselor with a caseload of 150 students that he meets on a monthly basis. The Promise Scholars Program offers holistic support including a dedicated counselor, full tuition assistance, textbook assistance, priority registration, and monthly financial incentives. In addition to this, he has experience teaching College Success and Career and Life Planning courses through CSM’s Dual Enrollment at Hillsdale High School and Half Moon Bay High School.