Ph.D. 2004
"I appreciated the support we got from the faculty and staff for student-initiated projects," Xavier says. "Whether it was a midwinter chili cook-off or the development of a course on environmental justice, if we had the energy to work on a project, we could always find at least one faculty member who would support us."
education
Cornell appealed to Xavier because it allowed him the freedom to design and pursue a course of study that brought together such diverse majors as community development, planning theory, and environmental engineering. "Also, the quality of the professors in the planning department and across the university influenced my choice to attend Cornell," he says.
work
As president of The Axios Group, a company that helps nonprofit organizations to build and maintain healthy communities, Xavier Morales faces many challenges. "There is very little money to support straight community building, so I find myself having to creatively design projects to access resources from seemingly unlikely sources," he says.
Still, Xavier is prepared to meet those challenges. Through project design and creative proposal writing, he has helped raise over $190 million for community-led projects to increase the quality of life in Arizona communities.
