Dr. Robert Muñoz, Vice President - 
Sul Ross State University Middle Rio Grande Campuses
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By Laura Nelson, Director of Enrollment Marketing

Dr. Robert Muñoz officially began his duties as Vice President of the Middle Rio Grande Campuses in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde on Monday, June 1.
He brings a wide variety of experience in higher education to the position, including more than 30 years of experience in two-year institutions in Texas with multi-campus settings.
As a first generation college student, he understands the challenges and the opportunities students face. The native of El Paso is a first generation college student, and grew up with parents who encouraged their six children to pursue degrees. It worked! The Muñoz siblings hold 10 degrees between them—six bachelors, three masters, and one doctorate.
Muñoz said he stumbled into education while he was a probation officer in Odessa after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the Univ. of Texas at El Paso. He started by teaching a management class at Odessa College, took on another class, and also finished an Associate degree in Applied Science. He soon joined OC full-time, serving as an instructor, and guided by a mentor, Vance Gipson, started his administrative career. During this time, he took advantage of a program offered at Sul Ross in Alpine that offered face-to-face classes on weekends and earned a Master’s in Counseling. Meanwhile, he continued to take on more responsibility at OC and completed a doctorate in Educational Administration from New Mexico State Univ.
When he left OC, Dr. Muñoz took on a challenge when he joined the administrative team at the Tarrant County College District in Ft. Worth, renovating a property used as a corporate headquarters into the dynamic Trinity River Campus. When Muñoz announced his resignation to come to Sul Ross, the President of the Trinity River Campus, Dr. S. Sean Madison, said, “We will miss his spirit of excellence, his love of community, and his positivity. I look forward to supporting his continued success as he moves into this important leadership role.”
Dr. Muñoz has served in volunteer leadership positions across an assortment of platforms such as Girls Inc., a nonprofit in 350 cities nationwide that supports, mentors, and guides girls ages 6-18; the Men of Color Mentoring Program in the Tarrant County College District, an organization that supports male Hispanic and African American college students; and United Way, among others. He has received a number of Hispanic leadership awards from civic organizations in Ft. Worth including the Hispanic Heritage Award in 2014, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Award in 2019, and the Brillo Award from the Hispanic Women’s Network.
He plans to become involved in the middle Rio Grande region and enjoys building relationships, discovering people’s passions, and discovering how they can work together. He said he is here to serve and looks forward to bringing his energy and enthusiasm to leading the Sul Ross campuses in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde to advocate for students and support communities.

REACH OUT  & TOUCH SOMEONE
We are living in very challenging times and under our current situation of social distancing and sheltering in place, we find ourselves longing to reach out and interact with someone outside our own eco-system circle.  With so many of our small businesses having to shut their doors, and others  operating with limited capacity and resources, we find ourselves wanting to reach out and help in any way we can.  The Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is considered a non-essential business, so although our doors are closed for normal business, we have maintained our information flow going through our Weekly Blast, Facebook Page, Emails and Newsletters.  Our shining light throughout this Pandemic has been non-other than Ms. Pauline Anton, the President and CEO of our parent organization, the Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce (TAMAAC); on a weekly basis, we connect with her and all other Hispanic Chambers throughout the state via ZOOM and get the latest information on grants, loans and assistance for small businesses.  We want to thank Ms. Anton for all her support, encouragement and assistance during these trying times.  This too shall Pass!  Our doors will be open for business soon and we will be there to support you!  

​First took office in January 2007 after 29 years of service with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and prior work as a grant writer, administrative assistant and abstractor. The County Clerk also is an ex officio member of the County Commissioner’s Court, serves as the official clerk for the Court and is required to attend all sessions and record all proceedings of the Court. The County Clerk is responsible for administering all county and state elections, including early voting and primaries.

​Friday June 23rd, 2017, the DRHCC said so long to Judith Montalvo who had served as  Administrative Assistant for nearly three years.  Ms. Montalvo decided to move, after her daughter’s graduation from DRHS, to be closer to where her daughter will pursue higher studies in the Fall.  We wish them both the best and hope they will stay in touch.
Following Judith’s departure, we are happy to welcome Ms. Edith Gonzalez, a Del Rio High School senior student, to fill the Administrative Assistant’s position.  Edith comes to us highly recommended by her director.  Edith, the daughter of Juan Jose Gonzalez and Monica Gonzalez, is well versed in office procedures, technology, and fluent in both English and Spanish.  We invite you to visit or contact her for Weekly Blast ads, flyers for promotions and any other assistance that you may need.

​Mr. Gregorio Arrambide has been working with Gateway Apartments since 2013 as Property Manager. Mr. Arrambide has also been volunteering with the DRHA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program for approximately 3 years as Site Coordinator and advanced Tax Preparer.  Mr. Arrambide works diligently with the DRHA VITA Program and believes that Financial education is important. Not only by providing a free service which normally would cost a tax payer $150-$300 but also to save their refunds to earn interest in saving accounts or to start a IRA through the IRS program of myRA. Educating people through VITA  plays an intricate roll in providing options to families who are low to moderate income base. Mr. Arrambide quotes “The best thing about helping others is that it costs nothing.”

​Mrs. Margie Montez, Del Rio’s International Bridge Superintendent, is the driving force behind the City of Del Rio’s International Bridge, our “Golden Goose” with a Yearly  Revenue of $7.5 Million  a year .  Margie was born and raised in Del Rio, Texas. Her parents are Jose and Susana Rubio.  Margie and her husband Joe have 4 children (Selena, Jose-Rene,  Ricardo, and Joel). Margie graduated from Del Rio High School, and in 1985 started working for the City of Del Rio. Her first job was at the Utility Billing Department. She started as a billing clerk and climbed the career ladder to become the Utilities’ Billing Department Supervisor.  She states that those 22 years of customer service experience served her well and prepared her for her next position with the City of Del Rio. In 2004 she was transferred to the International Bridge where she served as Interim Bridge Superintendent; in 2005, she was selected as the International Bridge Superintendent.  As the  Bridge Superintendent, she feels that it is extremely important to provide the best customer service possible to her customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A smooth running operation of the toll booth plaza is essential to United States and International travelers crossing the border into Mexico, as well as providing safety and security to her employees and customers alike.
   As the Superintendent of this important operation, she manages an Operating Budget of $938,004 dollars.  She faces many daily challenges; however, the most recent one has been overseeing the relocation of the toll booth plaza, which is long overdue. This project has been in the planning process for years.  When the Del Rio Port of Entry (POE) was relocated, the city realized that there was a need for the toll plaza to be adjacent to the POE for safety and security reasons. This project is now becoming a reality.  The new toll booth plaza, a new bridge operations office building, along with the latest technology on line services for pre-paid customers’ accounts should be ready this summer. The new state of the art and latest technology system is also long overdue.  It will provide better service, accountability and accuracy for pre-paid customers and management. This new system is expected to go live by June 2017.  Margie’s goal is to insure a smooth transition to the new system and Toll Booth Plaza. On the team is her able assistant, Mr. Joe Rivera, Assistant Bridge Superintendent and a staff of 14 employees who maintain and provide services 24 hours, 7 days a week.
   The Del Rio Chamber and Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce are anxiously awaiting the ribbon cutting upon the completion of this important project.

​DRHCC is proud to introduce our new Director of Women’s Issues, Xochitl Arteaga. Mrs. Arteaga joined us from Housing Authority of the City of Del Rio, she currently serves as the Resident Service Aide and has been with the agency for 2yrs. Arteaga has a Bachelors Degree on International Business and has 12 yrs experience in the Automotive Business, she also served 2yrs as an English teacher in Cd. Acuña. She is the Co-President of the Tri-National Health Council (Del Rio-Cd. Acuña-Guatemala) whose vision is to maintain epidemiological surveillance and carry out actions aimed at the physical, mental and social well-being of this border population. Some projects are to organize events during the year to prevent, inform and educate about health demands for the community. “Working with the community has given me the satisfaction of incorporating service in my life and making a difference in my community. I am honored to serve as a DWI for the DRHCC, it has been a great experience so far and I’d like to thank everyone for the opportunity to let me serve you. I will do my best to perform and represent DHCC as best as possible”.