Ronald Flores

Ron Flores teaches Immigration in an Urban Context; Race, Ethnicity and Baseball; Sociology of Families; advanced research seminars on Latinos in America and on Social Inequality; and Introduction to Sociology. He also teaches a first-year seminar on community and civic responsibility, "Our Communities, OurSelves." His courses typically include community service-learning.

Ron Flores joined the Connecticut College faculty in 2009. Previously at St. Lawrence University, he was an associate professor of sociology and held directorships of both community-based learning programs and the Center for Civic Engagement and Leadership.

Most of Flores' professional career has been spent researching the connections between race, ethnicity and communities. He has written about New York City neighborhoods and their new immigrant residents in Urban Affairs Review, Migration World and Urban Geography. His current research focuses on the effects of immigration on neighborhood composition and change in New York City. He is currently worked on a piece for Journal of Urban Affairs that examines how increased racial and ethnic diversity in New York has actually produced both racially integrated and racially segregated neighborhoods. As part of that work, he considers how the most recent wave of immigrants is redefining racial boundaries. At issue is whether the black/white racial binary is becoming a black/nonblack binary, as Asians and some Hispanic groups are becoming white in much the same way that Italians and Jews did during the first half of the last century.

His passion for understanding his youth in the South Bronx has lead to research on the Puerto Rican experience on the US mainland. While earlier scholarship profiled the demographics of Puerto Ricans in the city, much of his current research is on the educational achievement patterns of Puerto Rican youth. One article in Journal of Hispanic Higher Education looked at neighborhood effects on Puerto Rican youth high school attrition rates, and currently he is working on a comparative analysis of the educational attrition rates of Latino youth in the New York area. Flores is especially interested in seeing if the out-migration was selective by social class and whether it can shed some light on the assimilation experiences of Puerto Ricans.

As a teacher, Flores strives to provide active learning spaces that offer students opportunities to take responsibility for their learning in real-world settings that involve everyone in both the teaching and learning experience. He believes that engaged learning pedagogy reinforces course concepts and theories through collaborative research and community action, which also has positive effects on students’ personal, social and civic development. In all of his classes, he includes multiple opportunities for his students to use a variety of writing and performance genres to expand their communication and critical learning skills. He also believes strongly in the need for active, hands-on advising for students.

He serves on the advisory board for Connecticut College's Joy Shechtman Mankoff Center for Teaching & Learning and is a coordinator for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program.

Recent publications and presentations by Flores include:

• Flores, Ronald J. 2015. "The Eastern Pequot - Connecticut College Photo Voice Project: A Participatory Action Research initiative Using Images to Promote Social Justice." Paper presented at the 2015 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, New York City, New York.
• Flores, Ronald J. and Arun Peter Lobo, 2013. “The Reassertion of the Black/Nonblack Color Line: The Rise of the Integrated Neighborhood Without Blacks in New York City, 1970-2010.” Journal of Urban Affairs 1-28.
• Flores, Ronald J.O. 2013 “Civic Vision: Seeing the Invisible on the Path to a More Just Society.” Keynote address, Baccalaureate Ceremony, Connecticut College.
• Flores, Ronald J.O., 2013. “Racial Diversity and Black Exceptionalism.” Panelist on Stand Against Racism Day, sponsored by EveryDay Democracy. Hartford, Connecticut.
• Flores, Ronald J.O. 2013. “The Educational Achievements of the Hispanic Second Generation.” Presentation for the Latino Studies Lecture Series at Connecticut College, March 1, 2013.
• Flores, Ronald J.O., Maria Cruz Saco and Monika Anunabe-Lopez, 2013. “Expectations of Care Unfulfilled: An Exploratory Analysis of Potential Elder Care Problems Confronting Communities as the Number of Hispanic Elderly Grows.” Paper presented at the 2013 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, Ma.
• Flores, Ronald J.O. 2012. “Tearing Down the Wall: A Holistic View of a Liberal Arts Education.” Presentation made to Connecticut College Alumni Associations of Naples Florida and Sarasota Florida, March 21 and 22.
• Flores Ronald J.O., 2012. “Latino Conceptions of Aging and Implications for Planning for their Senior Years.” Paper presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the New England Caribbean and Latin American Society.
• Flores, Ronald J. O. and Arum Peter Lobo, 2012. “Neighborhood Racial Stability And Change in the Age of Net Outflows of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics: New York City, 1980-2010.” Paper presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, New York City.
• Flores, Ronald J.O., Arun Peter Lobo and Joseph J. Salvo, 2010. “Immigration, Integration and Segregation: An Examination of Neighborhood Racial Change and Stability in New York City Since 1965.” Paper presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Flores, Ronald J.O. 2010. "Puerto Rican Youth and (Lack of) Educational Success In New York City." Presented as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, Connecticut College, Fall, 2010.
• Ronald J.O. Flores, Arum Peter Lobo and Joseph J. Salvo 2010, "Immigration, Integration and Segregation: An Examination of Neighborhood Racial Change and Stability in New York City Since 1965." Paper presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Lucinda Hannington and Ronald J.O. Flores, 2009. "Building Sustainable Campus-Community Partnerships: The Role of the Student." Paper presented at the Second Annual Conference on Service Learning in Teacher Education. Galway, Ireland, June, 2009.
• Regosin, Elizabeth, and Ronald J.O. Flores, 2008. “A Journal of Citizenship: Orienting First Year Students to Liberal Education" in John Zubizarreta (ed) The Learning Portfolio: Reflective Practice For Improving Student Learning, 2nd edition, Jossey-Boss.
• Lobo, Peter, Ronald J.O. Flores and Joseph Salvo 2007. "The Overlooked Hierarchy of Hispanic Subgroup Residential Settlement In New York City." Urban Geography 28:609-634.
• Ronald J.O. Flores, Catherine Crosby-Currie and Christine Zimmerman, 2007. "Engaged Pedagogies, Civic Development and Student Well Being Within Liberal Learning Context: The Center for Civic Engagement and Leadership at St. Lawrence University." Peer Review 9:11-13.

Visit the sociology department website.

Majoring in Sociology.