Oz Dominguez helps nontraditional students follow the path to their dreams.

For many working professionals looking to realize the dream of finishing their college degree, they should pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

Osvaldo “Oz” Dominguez, assistant director and advisor for the university's $10K Degree Completion program at Texas Tech DFW, is working behind the scenes every day. He does everything in his power to assist students in finding their Yellow Brick Road and encouraging them along the path. 

As a Red Raider himself, Oz graduated with Spanish and political science degrees from Texas Tech University in 2020 despite the challenges students endured during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be those and other barriers he overcame that foreshadowed his flair for helping students. 

Oz was raised by immigrant parents who didn’t progress past eighth grade; he didn’t have role models for higher education.  

His dad, Jesus, came to the U.S, and shortly after returned home to Mexico, where he married Oz’s mom, Virginia. He then made the decision that it would be best to move to the states to grow a family. 

“My parents knew education was something that was going to be a cornerstone but with no real background to guide me on what that would look like as far as a formal education,” Oz said.

Living in North Texas, Oz was aware of schools like University of North Texas (UNT) and that his teachers attended places like Texas Tech. But until high school, when teachers and counselors started asking him about goals, he really had no idea how to go about higher education. 

Unlike the four friends in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” who had Glinda to advise and guide them along the way, Oz didn't have that support. 

When Oz began considering college, he was thinking of going into engineering. He had even applied to a couple of colleges out of state, but his mom wanted to keep him in Texas. Oz’s older cousin worked in the oil field and lived in Lubbock. The cousin told him that everyone he knew in the field was “Texas Tech,” and he urged Oz into coming for a campus visit. 

Oz had the typical reaction many people do upon first arriving in Lubbock: “It’s just flat.”

“As soon as I got to campus I just kind of fell in love with the architecture but then also with what it felt like to be on campus,” Oz recalled. “I'd been on a couple of college visits in the DFW area with our schools, but this one truly felt like where I needed to be.”

Once Oz decided on Texas Tech and learned more about it, he immediately saw resources on campus and a support system through his advisors. Oz found care and encouragement through his own journey, one that was particularly difficult to navigate in the closing years of his college experience in 2020. The jump to being completely online would prove priceless in his future role of advisor in an online program. 

“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”

– Dorothy

Now, some people could surmise a 26-year-old might be intimidated advising students whose average age is 41, but Oz sees the advantage. He’s been on campus in the not-so-distant past and knows what questions “new” students might have that he didn’t know to ask when he himself was fresh to campus. He can answer those questions before they’re even asked. 

“Being able to field questions for the students is what we do as advisors,” Oz said. “There are a ton of students we have that this is the first time they’re using a computer to go to school. The last time they were in school – if they were at Texas Tech – they had to go to the now demolished Municipal Coliseum, show up with their punch cards and go to each table for each course. 

“Technology has advanced, but oftentimes they also come into my office with some type of baggage from the last time they attended college, so I always take the opportunity to change that negative perspective.”

Oz says that a huge part of an advisor’s responsibility is to provide the same level of attention to an online student coming through DFW as any student would get on campus in Lubbock. In addition, it’s a different type of student because the needs he had as a 19-year-old traditional student were completely different than a 41-year-old parent or professional coming back to school to advance in the workforce or change careers.

Cheryl Holtman was certainly an older mom when she started back to school at age 54. She was the first student to enroll in the $10K program and the first Texas Tech employee to graduate from it. Oz was the one to suggest she could be in the inaugural cohort. He analyzed her transcripts, figured out what she needed to do, and most importantly, he stayed positive. 

Cheryl skeptically exclaimed that she hadn’t been in school in 30-plus years.

“I said, ‘Oz, that's a lot of work. I just don't know if I can complete everything in time’ -- he didn't even blink,” Cheryl said, still wide-eyed at the prospect, even though she did, in fact, graduate last December 2024. 

“He said, 'You can do it,' just matter-of-factly, like we had known each other for years. He was certain I could do it before I even had the idea in my head. After a few months, I was also sure I could do it. So, in a way, he believed in me first.”

The most frequent piece of advice Oz imparts to these students is reminding them everyone’s journey is different, but they can all relate to each other’s struggles – much like the four travelers journeying toward the Wizard’s emerald castle – taking on the challenges together.

During the first in-person microcredential class, students typically have an introduction time with the rest of their classmates. For the first 15 to 20 minutes, everyone talks about their journey and how they got to the point where they’re sitting in that chair.

“Every single one of that first cohort had a completely different story from the other, but they all left really connected and supportive of each other because they acknowledged each other’s struggles,” Oz said, nodding his head, remembering that day. “I think it’s one of the most powerful moments of their entire time with us to be able to listen to all their classmates just talk about where they’ve been.

“There are tears shed because it definitely can be a little overwhelming. But we see students immediately bond with each other.”

"A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”

– Tin Man

According to Rachel Minshew, student success director for the $10K program and Oz’s supervisor, he truly is the heart of the program. Students constantly share how supported and seen they feel because of the care and attention he gives to each of them. She herself also experienced his kind and cooperative demeanor. 

“He’s not only a fantastic advisor and recruiter but also a trusted teammate,” Rachel said. “Oz played a huge role in helping me transition into my role with the team. His insight and steadiness brought so much continuity when it was needed most. I can’t imagine this program without him.”

Oz works his magic even when a student’s first – or second, or third – university experience was not as a Red Raider. A student may need help finding a syllabus for this or that school from out of state. There’s a good possibility his office had never received transcripts from, say, Cleveland. 

“Cleveland State Community College was one of the several places Akiko Brown, who was also in the first cohort, had attended. That process took time – we had to find records so we could give Akiko her hours. Most of these students have earned a lot of hours. They’ve done the work, but they don’t have anything to show for it. So that is our job, to be there.”

The young advisor’s insight is astounding, as he so thoroughly understands where these students have come from, both literally, i.e., rural towns, large cities, no jobs, high-level jobs, etc., and figuratively, factoring in the sometimes many disappointments in their higher education journeys. 

And there really is no place like home. Oz’s infectious enthusiasm for Texas Tech hopefully helps students over those lingering memories. He wants them to be as happy here – at the DFW site or online – as he is.

“I love Texas Tech, and it’s been fantastic working here,” Oz uttered excitedly.

"You've always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself."

– Glinda

Cheryl believes Oz has modeled his caring way of guiding students for the other advisors, knowing it’s something adult learners need.

“In my mind, I always thought I couldn’t do it, and that contributed to why I left and didn’t go back,” Cheryl said somberly, her voice wavering just slightly. “Oz and the 10k advisors believe and speak that positive energy over the students until we understand we can believe in ourselves. It’s powerful, and I don’t even think he knows it, which speaks to how it’s just second nature for him. It’s cool.”

For the original four friends heading down the Yellow Brick Road, the ultimate goal was never the Emerald City: it was for the Wizard to impart the travelers with belief in their own strengths – Scarecrow a brain, Tin Man a heart, Cowardly Lion his courage and Dorothy to find it within herself to get back home. 

“It’s amazing finding myself in a position where I’m helping nontraditional students complete their degree,” Oz said. “To be able to truly shine that light for them and say, ‘It’s possible for you to finish your degree.’

“That tagline, “From Here, it’s Possible™,” has been there since before I was in school, and it truly is real to me because I went to school here. There’s just a little bit of a kind of moxie and just a kind of ruggedness, but also that friendliness and fun. It’s such a great slogan to have, and truthfully, it’s something we all believe.”