The Business Ethics class that Lilian Cruz de Santizo ’90 took at University of the Ozarks in the late 1980s made such an impact on her that she made it her career.
The former Walton Scholar earned a business administration degree at Ozarks in 1990 before returning to her home country of Guatemala where she serves as a professor at the Pan-American University of Guatemala, primarily teaching business and professional ethics.
“When I was at U of O, my desire was to go back to my country and be involved in the educational area, to teach people to improve their standards of life,” Cruz said. “I first learned about business ethics at Ozarks and I just loved the subject so much that it’s become a big part of my professional life.”
After graduating from Ozarks, Cruz continued her studies in educational administration and informatics, earning a master’s degree of higher education with specialties in andragogy and virtual education.
Her work in ethics has also continued outside the classroom. She has worked for USAID-Guatemala as a methodological consultant, designing a virtual certification program applied to the public management and municipal government. She has also written contents for virtual studies about municipal integrated financial management and created a course in municipal management and transparency, applied to mayors across Guatemala.
In addition, she worked under the administration of former president Jimmy Morales in instructing the employees of the executive branch in the discipline of public ethics. And, she was hired to work at the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) as a methodological consultant for the virtual certification program in public administration, writing modules of ethics for the public employee, designing virtual methodology and evaluation instruments.
“I am grateful to God for the great opportunity to study at University of the Ozarks,” Cruz said. “The education I received set the course I needed to become a successful professional. Being a Walton Scholar gave me the opportunity to meet people from different countries and learned about their culture, to develop as an individual and to improve my English. Being able to get an education from the United States opened so many doors for me and gave me the opportunity to serve my country, as I dreamed of. I can’t thank Ozarks enough, from the bottom of my heart.”
Topics: Alumni Stories