Community colleges have the power to advance equity and economic mobility through local collaboration, Chancellor of the Alamo Colleges District Dr. Mike Flores told guests during the keynote address of the 2022 Dallas Herring Lecture on Tuesday.
“To understand how we can advance equity and enhance economic mobility begins with understanding and embracing the communities we serve,” Flores said. “We’re creating leaders one person at a time – we’re changing our communities.”
The Alamo Colleges District is a network of five community colleges in San Antonio and Universal City, Texas, and serves the Greater San Antonio metropolitan area. The district is the largest provider of higher education in South Texas, serving about 100,000 students, Flores said, and more than 80% are students of color.
National community college leaders like Flores have delivered the Dallas Herring Lecture since 2015. The lecture honors the late W. Dallas Herring – the “father” of the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) – and is hosted by North Carolina State University’s College of Education and the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research.
“Throughout his life’s work, Herring was guided by his vision that education should be an ‘opportunity for all the people.’ Like Herring, Flores’ vision is to create a system that is accessible to all, and we are incredibly honored to have him as this year’s Dallas Herring Lecture speaker.”
— Dr. Audrey J. Jaeger, executive director of the Belk Center
Along with Herring’s many education contributions in North Carolina, Jaeger also acknowledged his complicated legacy. She noted his “troubling views” regarding segregation and integration early in his career and his willingness to acknowledge and learn from mistakes.
“So while Herring’s accomplishments are many, and his advocacy inspiring, he was not without flaws,” Jaeger said. “It is relevant for us to guard against the tendency to put our leaders on the pedestal. Instead, we ought to recognize their achievements, celebrate their successes, and learn from their mistakes. … Through many, not one, we will continue to fill the gaps to access, break down barriers to success, and transform lives and communities across the state. Together, we will carry this legacy forward.”
During his keynote speech, Flores offered a framework of meeting diverse student needs using local collective impact strategies.
Flores spoke of his firsthand knowledge of the economic mobility education can provide. As the child of migrant farmworkers, he saw his parents –Ruben and Acente Flores – “overcome the odds” to earn college degrees. His father eventually became a dean at San Antonio College – one of the five colleges in the Alamo Colleges District – and dreamed of his son becoming the first Hispanic Chancellor there. Flores achieved that goal in 2018 and has dedicated his career to ensuring an equitable and accessible education for all students.
Flores quoted Herring’s words, spoken to the North Carolina legislature in 1966, as a foundation for his framework: “We must take the people where they are and carry them as far as they can go …”
He offered six steps to the framework he called a “cycle of transformation.”
Original source can be found here.
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