Beth Cruz

Beth Cruz is a 2010 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School. She returned to serve as Assistant Dean and Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey Director of Public Interest to provide leadership, institutional support, and specialized advising and programming to support public interest students in developing healthy and sustainable legal careers. Cruz fosters a culture of practicing law for the greater good within the Vanderbilt Law community by providing pro bono and court-watching opportunities with local and national partners. She teaches the Public Interest Policy and Legislation Practicum, a course in which students work on live legislative projects, providing legal and policy analysis to support the legislative advocacy of community partners.

Prior to returning to the law school, Cruz served as the founder and team leader of the Education Rights Project in the Nashville Defenders Office. The Education Rights Project focused on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline through legal representation, policy advocacy and stakeholder education. She provided legal representation to economically vulnerable clients in education, juvenile justice and child welfare matters for 13 years. A leader in education policy advocacy, Cruz built coalitions with community, governmental and advocacy groups to end elementary school arrests in Nashville, reduce exclusionary discipline in Nashville’s public schools, and remove language disadvantaging children experiencing poverty from Tennessee’s special education regulations. In her current role, Cruz remains engaged in advocating for child-centered education law and policy.

Education:
J.D., Vanderbilt University
B.A. Biology; Health & Society, University of Rochester