Dr. Rodolfo Cruz Piñeiro is a professor and researcher of the Department of Population Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) in Tijuana, Baja California. He has been affiliated with COLEF since 1986. Dr. Cruz previously served as interim President, Provost, Dean of External Affairs and Academic Support, Director of the Population Studies Department and Director of the Graduate Studies Office. Dr. Cruz has taught numerous courses in population studies and demography at COLEF and San Diego State University. He has also published widely on Mexican migration patterns and immigration, the border labor force and the gender dynamics of labor participation in the border region. Dr. Cruz holds Mexico’s prestigious “National Researcher” classification.

In addition to his professional duties, Dr. Cruz is currently a member of the Citizens’ Council on Population, was member of the Editorial Board of Tijuana’s principal daily newspaper Frontera (2005-2006), and has served as President of the Mexican National Society of Demography (2002-2004). Since 2003, Dr. Cruz has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad, a Border Philanthropy Partnership community foundation.

Dr. Cruz earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was affiliated with the Population Research Center and held the prestigious MacArthur, Hewlett and C.B. Smith Fellowships. His Ph.D. dissertation was titled Growth, Instability and Volatility: Female Employment in the Mexican Border Cities. Dr. Cruz has a master's degree in demography from El Colegio de México, and earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the Universidad Veracruzana.

His recent publications include:

Los mercados laborales de los inmigrantes mexicanos y sus posibles impactos en un programa de trabajadores temporales en Desafíos de la migración mexicana, Editorial Planeta, México, 2007 (in press).
La frontera norte de México: población, migración y empleo on território sem limites. Estudios sobre fronteiras, Organizador Tito Carlos Machado de Oliveira, Editora UFMS, Campo Grande Brasil, pp 409-433, 2005.
Mexican Migration to the Southeastern United States on Mexican Immigration to the U.S. Southeast: Impact and Challenge., Instituto de México, pp 49-61, Atlanta, Georgia, USA 2005.
“Los mexicanos en Estados Unidos. Empleo y migración”, on Demos. Carta demográfica sobre México. Núm. 15, pp 33-34, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales UNAM, México 2002.