Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
South Texas College faculty member Ruben Flores, Ph.D., has been appointed to serve on the city of McAllen’s Traffic Commission, bringing decades of civic engagement and regional insight to an advisory board that helps guide the city’s mobility and infrastructure planning.
Flores, department chair for STC’s Bachelor of Applied Technology in Operations Management (BAT) program, was appointed by McAllen City Commissioner Joaquin “J.J.” Zamora to fill a vacancy on the commission. The board evaluates traffic concerns and mobility needs across the city and makes recommendations to city commissioners on matters like road connectivity, traffic signals and long-term transportation planning.
“These boards bring people together who come from different sectors of the community,” Flores said. “On the traffic commission, you see engineers, people from the business community and many others who are interested in how mobility is planned for the future. When people want a new signal or when roads need to connect different areas of the city, those discussions often begin there.”
The appointment follows Flores’ recent completion of a four-year term on the McAllen Convention Center and Performing Arts Advisory Board, one of several civic boards he has served on throughout his career.
For Flores, community involvement goes back decades, beginning with his work with Communities in Schools in the 1980s, an organization focused on supporting students facing economic and social challenges.
That experience, Flores said, helped shape his long-standing commitment to expanding educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Communities in Schools was the very first organization I served on,” he said. “I saw that many students had tremendous socioeconomic needs. Some didn’t even want to go to school because they had holes in their shoes. What impressed me was that counselors were going to students’ homes and getting to know what was going on in their lives.”
Flores later served on the McAllen Vision Board, a planning initiative tasked with examining the region’s long-term future. During those discussions in the late 1980s, Flores said he advocated for the creation of a community college in the area to serve students who might not otherwise have access to higher education.
Those early conversations ultimately helped lead to the creation of South Texas Community College and finally South Texas College as it is known today. Flores said STC has evolved into an institution that continues to transform lives across the region.
“We’ve come a long way from when I grew up in a colonia in south McAllen where many of us didn’t even think about getting a degree,” he said. “Now we have students saying, ‘I can get a degree, start a business and change my family’s future.’’’
Flores has worked at the college since the late 1980s when the campus was still known as Texas State Technical College in McAllen. During that time, he said he has seen the college evolve from a small campus with a handful of buildings into the nation’s No. 1 Hispanic-Serving institution.
Serving on local boards, has also allowed him to connect the work of the college with leaders across the community.
“Being involved in the community gives me access to people I can invite to speak to our students,” Flores said. “Instead of simply asking someone to come to campus, you’re building relationships with people who are working on real projects. That allows us to bring knowledge from the outside directly into the classroom.”
Zamora said Flores’ experience and perspective make him a strong addition to the traffic commission.
“He (Flores) is certainly an asset to our community,” Zamora said. “Dr. Flores has always been active in city business and has a deep understanding of how McAllen has grown over the years. That historical perspective is incredibly valuable as we address issues like traffic and infrastructure.”
