Reynaldo “Rey” Anaya Valencia became the 13th president and dean of South Texas College of Law Houston July 1, 2025 — the first Hispanic individual and first person of color to be appointed to the position.

A Harvard Law School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford University (joint four-year program), Valencia was the first in his family to go to college. He led Capital University Law School as dean and professor of law from 2020 until his appointment to South Texas Law.

He previously served as associate dean for finance and administration and a faculty member at the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT-D) College of Law. He joined the faculty at St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1995 as an associate professor, earning tenure in 1999 and promotion to the rank of full professor.

Valencia served as a White House Fellow in the Office of the Chief of Staff in 1999-2000, working on race, civil rights, immigration and Hispanic education issues. In 2008, having returned to St. Mary’s, he was appointed associate dean of administration and finance and held the Ernest W. Clemmons Professor of Corporate and Securities Law, an endowed professorship. He has practiced, taught, written, and lectured nationally and internationally on corporate law, corporate bankruptcy, and race and gender issues, and also has served as an expert witness in complex corporate and bankruptcy multimillion dollar litigation.

Immediately out of law school, Valencia practiced corporate bankruptcy and general corporate law at the Dallas office of the international law firm 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).

He was elected to the board of trustees for the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) and has served on several key LSAC committees. He chaired the American Bar Association Self-Study Committee at St. Mary’s, UNT-D College of Law, and Capital and has extensive accreditation experience, serving as a member of numerous ABA and AALS site inspection teams. He has published a number of articles and won awards for teaching and legal work, including St. Mary’s University Distinguished Faculty Award (Law School) in 2008 and the Outstanding Legal Achievement award by the Mexican American Bar Association of San Antonio in 2003 and 2006.