CLC names Jesus Ruiz as dean of Lakeshore (Waukegan) Campus

GRAYSLAKE – The College of Lake County has named Jesus Ruiz as dean of the Lakeshore (Waukegan) Campus.

In his role, Ruiz will oversee the short- and long-term planning for the campus, encompassing areas such as budgets, programming, services and staffing.

A Waukegan native, Ruiz previously served as director of community engagement and pipeline initiatives at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago. During his seven years there, his duties included directing the INSPIRE summer research program. He also coordinated a program offering post-baccalaureate students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to enroll at no cost in a non-degree curriculum track to improve their competitiveness when applying for admission in medical or health programs. Under his leadership, the university tripled the number of underrepresented students accepted into the medical school. He also instituted a university-wide day of service.

Ruiz also previously served as a research associate at the Lake County Health Department.

“I’m extremely honored and excited to be named as dean of the Lakeshore Campus,” said Ruiz, a 2000 graduate of Waukegan High School. “This is an incredibly exciting time for the campus and eastern Lake County as the $1.5 million Workforce Equity grant provides tuition-free career education for nearly 200 students and as Lakeshore prepares for a $48 million expansion. I look forward to working with CLC community stakeholders in making this campus a thriving center of community engagement.”

Ruiz has a B.S. in biology from Loyola University Chicago and a M.A.Ed. degree in higher education leadership from Northeastern Illinois University. Currently, he is a doctoral student at Illinois State University.