Enrique B. de la Cruz, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge, where he also served as Department Chair. Before that, he was the Assistant Director of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA and has authored several articles on Asian Americans, Filipino Americans, and Philippine-U.S. relations.
He is the co-author of the Forbidden Book: The Philippine American War in Political Cartoons, which won the Book of The Year award from the Gustavus Myers Center for The Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. To commemorate the Centennial of Philippine-U.S. Relations, he edited a special double issue of Amerasia Journal, 24:2 and 24:3, titled "Essays into American Empire in the Philippines". The issue was devoted to examining the impact of 100 years of Philippine-US relations. Furthermore, he co-curated a 100-year photographic retrospective of Philippine-U.S. relations, titled "Confrontations, Crossings, and Convergence: Photographs of the Philippines and the United States, 1898-1998", and published a book with the same title. The photographic exhibit was shown at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and other museum venues.
Apart from his academic achievements, Enrique de la Cruz is a lifelong community activist who has served in various capacities with community social service organizations and on several boards of non-profit organizations. Some of these organizations include Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), The Liberty Hill Foundation Community Board, The Funding Exchange Saguaro Fund, SoCal Gas Advisory Board for Diversity, Filipino Civil Rights Advocates (FilCRA), The Filipino American Library, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), and Filipino American Service Group (FASGI).