Jorge Klor de Alva

After graduating from Bellarmine College Preparatory, he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley, . He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy and upon graduation, then a Juris Doctor degree from Berkeley, and finally a Ph.D. in history and anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Having taught himself Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs, his doctoral thesis, under the direction of Miguel León-Portilla, examined native resistance to Christianity in 16th century Mexico.

He re-joined University of Phoenix/Apollo Group in the Fall of 2005 as President of Latin American Operations and Sr. Vice President of International Operations.

He founded Apollo International while President of the University of Phoenix, focused on providing remote education programs outside the U.S. It was a global education company that served over 170,000 students before its sale in 2005. He served as both Chairman and CEO of the Pitagoras-Apollo International joint venture in Brazil, which went public as KROTON in Brazil's BOVESPA exchange. At the time he sold the company in 2005 to re-join University of Phoenix, Apollo International had over 170,000 K-12 and higher education students.

His scholarly research has been on contemporary and early modern interethnic/interracial relations, education policy and curriculum reform, and cultural and social trends, primarily in North America, Europe, and Africa. He has published over eighty scholarly articles, is co-author of nine textbooks, and has written or edited another fifteen books on related subjects. His most recent books include In the Language of Kings (WW Norton: 2001) and The Americans (McDougal Littell: 2007 [latest edition]).

From 1989–94 he was Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. From 1994 to 1998 he held the Class of 1940 Endowed Chair at the University of California, Berkeley

His first academic position was at San Jose State University as Assistant and Associate Professor of Philosophy/Humanities/Mexican American Graduate Studies, (1971–82). He then worked at University of California-Santa Cruz as Visiting Associate Professor of History, (1980–82), and then at SUNY-Albany as Associate Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies(1982–89)

From 1971 to 2014 de Alva worked with and advised John Sperling on the founding and development, first, of the Institute for Professional Development and, second, the University of Phoenix and Apollo Group (later renamed Apollo Education Group) and Senior Vice President and Board member of Apollo Group, Inc., the holding company of the for-profit university. He was a member of the boards of directors of Apollo Group and the University of Phoenix from 1991 to 2003, and until September 2000, was President of the University of Phoenix. He retired from Apollo Group, Inc. in 2011.

J. Jorge Klor de Alva, was born May 28, 1948, in Mexico City. His parents were Maria de los Angeles de Alva, born in San Luis Potosi, and Charles W. Klor, who emigrated with his family to California from Russia in 1915. After WWII his father continued to Mexico, but returned to the U.S. when Klor de Alva was four years old. By 1957 Klor de Alva migrated to the U.S. with his mother and two siblings hoping to rejoin his father. Within a year after their arrival in San Jose, California, his father abandoned the family and Klor de Alva and his older brother began to work in the fields of the agricultural community. He continued working during the school year, and summers throughout his elementary and high school years.

Jose Jorge Klor de Alva, is a Mexican-born anthropologist, the president of Nexus Research and Policy Center, an independent research and policy advocacy organization for the improvement of college education of nontraditional and underserved students. He is also chairman of 3DMX, Inc., a technology company in Silicon Valley that focuses, through its Mexico-based University of Advanced Technologies, on education and training programs in digital and advanced manufacturing technologies. He was previously the Class of 1940 Professor and Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley