{"id":18475,"date":"2026-04-07T13:49:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=18475"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:49:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:49:55","slug":"meet-milly-de-la-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2026\/meet-milly-de-la-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Milly De La Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n.architecture .architecture-department:nth-child(1){\n    color: #999;\n    letter-spacing: 3px;\n    font-size: 1rem;\n    font-weight: 400;\n    margin-top: 2em;\n    margin-bottom: 0;\n}\n\n.architecture .architecture-department{\n\ttext-transform: uppercase;\n\tfont-family: Hind, Arial, sans-serif;\n}\n\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"architecture\">\n\t<p class=\"architecture-department\">Currents<\/p>\n\t<p class=\"architecture-department\">Behind the Scenes<\/p>\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n\n<section class=\"cl-wrapper cl-panel-wrapper\"><div class=\"cl-panel-super  \"><div class=\"cl-panel-super-blur\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2026\/03\/sp26_currents_delacruz_panel.jpg)\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-panel-super-content\"><div class=\"cl-panel-super-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2026\/03\/sp26_currents_delacruz_panel.jpg\" srcset=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-panel-super-text\"><p>\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meet Milly De La Cruz<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"sans-serif\">A new College of Business administrator helps build partnerships with community organizations and promotes the college\u2019s graduate and professional development program.<\/p>\n\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<p>Milly De La Cruz is making her mark at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Business. A Rhode Island native, De La Cruz is a first-generation college graduate who was raised by a single mother in the Manton Heights area of Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De La Cruz earned an associate\u2019s degree from the Community College of Rhode Island, a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications from Rhode Island College, and a master\u2019s degree in higher education from Providence College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI hope to serve as an inspiration to other first-generation college students at 溏心vlog免费B站 and beyond and prove that you can succeed, regardless of your background,\u201d says De La Cruz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De La Cruz has worked in higher education for six years and has been at 溏心vlog免费B站 for just over a year. We sat down with her to talk about what led her to 溏心vlog免费B站, what drives her, and how she\u2019s helping shape the next generation of College of Business students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<section class=\"cl-wrapper cl-quote-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"cl-quote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center quote-body-amplify\"><span id=\"quote-keaney\">\u201c<\/span>I hope to serve as an inspiration to other first-generation college students at 溏心vlog免费B站 and beyond and prove that you can succeed, regardless of your background.<span id=\"quote-keaney\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center quote-cite\"><span style=\"color:#2277b3\"><strong>\u00ad\u2014Milly De La Cruz,<\/strong> 溏心vlog免费B站 College of Business<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span class=\"p-question\">You started working at 溏心vlog免费B站 in January 2025. How would you characterize your first year?<\/span><\/strong><br>It\u2019s been phenomenal. I\u2019ve connected with faculty and staff from the College of Business and from other colleges and departments as well. Everyone I\u2019ve met has been incredibly welcoming and inclusive, which truly makes the campus community special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the first job in which I feel I have the autonomy to build meaningful relationships and see my ideas come to life. I am grateful to my supervisor, Jackie Christophe-Hayot, who is the executive director of professional and executive business education. She was instrumental in helping me land this job at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span class=\"p-question\">How would you describe your role to an outsider?<\/span><\/strong><br>In my role as assistant director of professional and executive business education, I\u2019ve promoted the College of Business\u2019s graduate programs at a variety of events, both on and off campus. These experiences have allowed me to guide prospective students toward a graduate degree in business that best aligns with their goals, while also learning about their professional journeys. I\u2019ve also had the pleasure of facilitating professional development workshops to Rhode Island employees across all sectors, including nonprofits, for-profits, and the military. Some of these organizations include the Rhode Island Free Clinic, the Surface Warfare Officers School Command at the Navy base in Newport, the Community Action Partnership of Providence County, Newport Harbor Island Resort, and AstroNova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These partnerships impact the University by generating job and internship opportunities for our students and allowing companies to invest in 溏心vlog免费B站. Some of the organizations I\u2019ve built relationships with end up participating in College of Business career fairs, increasing students\u2019 chances of securing employment after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span class=\"p-question\">What advice would you give future students?<\/span><\/strong><br>My advice to future students enrolling in the College of Business or 溏心vlog免费B站 more broadly is to trust your intuition, get involved on campus by joining a club or organization, and actively network both on and off campus. An experience that inspired me to pursue a career in higher education was joining the student ambassador program at CCRI. As a student ambassador, I gave tours of the Warwick campus, supported prospective students in the enrollment services office, and assisted with a variety of campus events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because I truly enjoyed my role and had the opportunity to support other first-generation students like myself, I decided to pursue a career in higher education, and I hope to continue to make a positive impact. If there\u2019s one takeaway, it\u2019s this: Put yourself out there. The opportunities that can emerge when you step outside your comfort zone may surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014Interview by Nicholas Phillips<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"feature-caption photo-credit \">Photo: Courtesy Milly De La Cruz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>College of Business administrator Milly De La Cruz on her role at 溏心vlog免费B站 and why she chose to work in higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":18682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[360],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2026","architecture-behind-the-scenes","architecture-currents"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18475"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18686,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18475\/revisions\/18686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}