Biography

Robert Flores, KNFP 13, is a professor of agricultural education at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. Flores served as department head for the Agricultural Education and Communication Department for nine years. He is once again serving as the interim department head. Prior to Cal Poly, he taught at San Benito High School in Hollister, CA for five years. Flores was the chief of party in the development of EARTH (Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda) University in Costa Rica. Flores has been a core faculty member of the California Agricultural Leadership Program (CALP) for the past 15 years. He was the CALP director of education from 1997 to 2000. He is also a presenter on the topics of preferential behavior, learning styles and values programming. A Kellogg National Fellow and mentor to the Rockefeller Educational Leadership Fellows, he is a past president of the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. Flores is a founding member of the Latino Outreach Council of SLO County and Visión Unida, a local leadership development organization. He serves on the board of the local Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Committee, and he is a past board member of the YMCA of San Luis Obispo County and the Literacy Council of San Luis Obispo County. He is a lector, Eucharistic minister, altar server, and bell ringer at Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. He was awarded the Ocean Mist Outstanding Faculty Member award for 2010 by the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science at Cal Poly. Flores earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Cal Poly, and completed his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University. Flores and his wife, Sheryl, have three sons.