Click here to watch the livestream of the ceremony
South Texas College of Law Houston celebrated its new president and dean, Reynaldo “Rey” Anaya Valencia — the first Hispanic and first person of color to be named to lead the law school — with an investiture ceremony Friday featuring inspiring stories from family and friends, bagpipes and a mariachi band, and the presentation of the dean’s medal, followed by a grand reception.
The new leader’s love for his family, his broad-reaching ties to the legal profession and legal education, and his ability to create lifelong connections with friends and colleagues was evident throughout the day’s events.
Valencia’s brother-in-law, Deacon Jesus Cantu of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lubbock, offered the invocation. His sisters, Sylvia Cantu and Laura DeLeon, shared heartwarming stories about their family — and about the drive to learn and excel they always saw in their brother.
“Our parents, who grew up as migrant farm workers, did not quite know how to contend with the force that was Rey Valencia,” DeLeon said. “They had no blueprint for raising a son with astronomical goals and no understanding of the many obstacles that stood in his way.”
Their father was a construction worker who only completed third grade and was one of 19 siblings; their mother was a housekeeper who completed sixth grade and was one of 13 siblings. “College was not even on the radar, much less a consideration,” DeLeon said. “There were absolutely no funds for Rey’s lofty college goals.”
Despite the financial challenges and lack of educational role models, Valencia attended Stanford, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees — with honors — in an accelerated program. Valencia then applied to and was accepted into Harvard Law School.
During Friday’s ceremony, Genora K. Boykins ’85, chair of the South Texas Law board of directors, described the national search that brought the Harvard Law graduate to the law school, and she presented him an engraved dean’s medallion — a symbol of academic and professional distinction.
“We were looking for someone thoughtful and courageous, highly credentialed but with the humility and heart of a servant,” Boykins said. “Someone who understands the significance of providing opportunities for first-generation law students and who embraces the responsibility of educating future attorneys, judges, and community leaders. And someone who would strengthen the sense of community that thrives at South Texas Law. The board found those characteristics and so much more in Renaldo ‘Rey’ Anaya Valencia.”
In bringing greetings to Valencia from the South Texas Law faculty, Vice President and Associate Dean Amand Peters noted, “Since he began in July, I’ve witnessed a dean who skillfully leads with intellect, humor, wisdom, transparency, experience, humility, and compassion. He brings decades of teaching, serving, leading, and deaning to the school. His gifts and strengths demonstrate why he already fits so well into the fabric of South Texas College of Law Houston.”
Many current law school deans, law faculty, former classmates and students of Valencia’s, and other friends from the legal community helped celebrate the new leader Friday.
Daniella Landers, president of the Houston Bar Association, said, “The HBA is privileged to have a strong relationship with South Texas College of Law Houston, which plays an essential role in preparing students to enter the legal profession practice-ready and fully equipped for challenges they’ll face in the profession. Dean Valencia, on behalf of the Houston Bar Association, congratulations on your appointment and installation as the 13th leader and the first Latino dean of the city’s oldest law school.”
During the ceremony, Valencia also was welcomed and encouraged by Alex Gonzalez ‘03 who brought greetings from the Alumni Association, Student Bar Association President Marchion Wynne ’26, and by one of his Harvard Law school classmates Ivette Peña.
In Valencia’s remarks, he referenced the theme he chose for the ceremony: “The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice” — an excerpt from a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King. He recalled how he originally planned to be a civil rights attorney but realized after law school that his high debts would require a different path.
Valencia practiced corporate bankruptcy and general corporate law at the Dallas office of Jones Day for five years while serving as an adjunct professor of law at Texas Tech School of Law (where at age 25 he became the youngest faculty member in the law school’s history). His Texas Tech experience helped him realize that educating and mentoring future lawyers was a calling for which he had both talent and passion.
He taught 21 years at St. Mary’s University School of Law, was named the Ernest W. Clemmons Professor of Corporate and Securities Law, and eventually served as associate dean for finance and administration. He also served in that associate dean role for the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law.
Valencia led Capital University Law School as dean and professor of law from 2020 until his appointment to South Texas Law.
In Valencia’s remarks, he praised South Texas Law for being a school of access and opportunity since its founding in 1923 — and continuing today. “We have been producing excellent lawyers for the needs of Greater Houston, Texas, and beyond for more than 100 years, and we are still going strong,” he said.
Harkening to remarks about his family’s engagement in migrant farm work, Valencia announced he is establishing a scholarship at South Texas Law in his parents’ honor that will provide financial assistance to descendants of migrant farm workers.
“My sister Sylvia and I worked in those fields in the summer — the fields where my parents worked,” Valencia said. “There is great honor in that work. I look forward to us offering this scholarship to someone worthy of it so they can follow their own dream of becoming an attorney.”
Valencia shared a quote, in both English and Spanish, that he often heard from his grandfather. “They can take away your house, they can take away your car, they can take away your clothes, they can take away your very life. But education, once you’ve acquired that, no one can take that away from you.”
He closed with these words, which were followed by rousing applause and a standing ovation: “To be a lawyer and to be a legal educator is the best job anyone could ever hope for. I want to thank South Texas College of Law Houston. I want to thank the board of directors. I want to thank the faculty and staff. I want to thank the students and all those in support of me. You have warmly welcomed me, and I look forward to being part of this community. I am so proud and thankful and blessed.”
