Posted on August 26, 2026 by Wendy Frost
Jorge Cruz, a PhD student in management and organization studies in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, was selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
Jorge Cruz
The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international educational exchange program funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program was founded to increase mutual understanding and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and other countries.
One of 1,800 recipients nationwide, Cruz will use the funding to conduct entrepreneurship-related research in Chile for nine months beginning this spring.
His project will investigate how Chilean stakeholders have adopted and reinterpreted the U.S. Small Business Development Center (SBDC) model to achieve rapid scale and measurable impact through their system of Centros de Desarrollo de Negocios (CDNs).
“I’m super grateful for this opportunity,” said Cruz, who has an academic background in psychology and business. “I always knew I wanted to study in Latin America because of my background as a Mexican-American navigating life between the two nations.”
Cruz’s study will explore institutional change and cross-sector collaboration in Chile’s CDNs. He’ll start by identifying stakeholders and building relationships in the country. Then he’ll conduct qualitative interviews with CDN directors, public officials and entrepreneurs as well as undertake a quantitative records-based study of CDN archives.
“Chile stands out for the speed and scale with which it adapted the SBDC model,” shared Cruz. “I want to understand what made that trajectory possible and whether elements of it can be sustained or used to inform similar efforts in other countries.”
While in Chile, Cruz will collaborate with faculty, researchers and organizations across the country's entrepreneurship and small-business support ecosystem.
“My goal is not to impose knowledge, but to gather it,” he said. “By showcasing how Chile reimagined the SBDC model, I aim to help U.S. experts learn from its example and advance a more adaptable framework.”
Connecting with the Fulbright program’s emphasis on mutual learning, he hopes to give back through guest lectures, workshops and mentoring while also learning from the stakeholders who have built and sustained Chile's approach.
“UT San Antonio and the Alvarez College of Business have been so supportive of me in this project,” he said. “From business faculty to SBDC leadership they were willing to open doors for me to make this proposal a reality. This experience will be instrumental in shaping my academic future.”
— Wendy Frost
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