Dr. Florencio U. Aranda III, a frontera native of Presidio, Texas and Ojinaga, Chihuahua, México, has dedicated his life to leadership, service, advocacy, and research.

Growing up on the border, Dr. Aranda was part of a hardworking community rich in culture and language, where everyone looked out for one another, despite being limited in everyday resources and necessities. While his parents’ education did not surpass high school and lived paycheck to paycheck, they worked extremely hard to provide Dr. Aranda and his two sisters with everything they needed to survive life and thrive as respectful and well-mannered people. With the passing of his baby sister, he turned his life toward education and sought to be a beacon of hope for his family and community members. They weren’t afforded the opportunity to pursue a college education.

Dr. Aranda faced many challenges as a first-generation, low socioeconomic, need-based, remedial, Latino male student at a Predominately White Institution. Despite all odds, Dr. Aranda relied on his faith, family, friends, and academic familia to overcome the adversity.

Dr. Aranda obtained a B.A. in Spanish & Political Science, M.A. in Romance Languages, M.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Texas Tech University and an M.L.S. in Legal Studies from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

His extensive education has allowed him to advocate for underrepresented and underserved students while being called upon to share his life’s narrative and academic research in political and educational settings.

Currently, Dr. Aranda works as a student affairs professional/diversity advocate at South Dakota State University, where he focuses on the retention and degree completion of Latinx students. Moreover, he advocates for diversity, inclusion, access, and multiculturalism as the New Professional Representative and Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the South Dakota Higher Education Association and as the Chair of the Mentorship Program for Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education.

While working as a diversity advocate and student affairs professional can be taxing, Dr. Aranda strives to be an agent of change for historically marginalized and underrepresented students. He makes it his mission to serve others, to ensure that others don’t go through the same struggles he went through during his academic trajectory, and continues to lead by example in the educational, political, and cultural arenas he navigates.

For Dr. Aranda, the most influential people in his life are his parents: Florencio Aranda, Jr. and Maricela Urias Aranda. His mother and father have been Dr. Aranda’s biggest supporters during his academic journey and continue to share their wisdom as he navigates his professional career in higher education. He also credits his life’s success to his maternal grandmother Tela Urias for instilling in him that with God and humility, all things are possible.

---

Advice to younger self:

• • For anyone seeking postsecondary education, please know that you are not alone. When possible, please seek from friends, family, and educational advocates and always remember that Juntos haremos la diferencia.