Forget Cowtown. A better motto for Fort Worth is “Nowtown.” As one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, Fort Worth recently surpassed San Jose, California, to become the 12th largest city in the United States. Driving this impressive growth in part is a commitment to public service—something deeply instilled in UTA students and alumni. For generations, UTA graduates have served Fort Worth by contributing to its development, well-being, and sense of community.

Three UTA alumni now serve as key leaders, helping to shape the future of this dynamic city as members of the Fort Worth City Council. Jeanette Martinez (’17 MPA), Carlos Flores (’93 BS, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), and Elizabeth Beck (’11 MCRP; ’07 BA, Sociology)—all recognized on Fort Worth Inc.’s Fort Worth 400 list—exemplify the Maverick spirit of service. They are dedicated to guiding this historic and rapidly changing city, and its increasingly diverse community, toward a brighter future.

Peter Crouch, College of Engineering dean, notes that these alumni show how a UTA education can shape leaders who give back to their communities, no matter what degrees they earn. Their degrees share a common thread—each one has equipped them with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for public service.

“These skills are not only vital for engineering professions, but are also transferable to any field, including public service,” Dr. Crouch says.

David Coursey, chair of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program, adds, “Our alumni, such as those serving on the Fort Worth City Council, exemplify the impact of a UTA education. They are equipped to lead with vision and integrity, addressing urban challenges and creating sustainable solutions.”

Jeanette Martinez

THE VOICE FOR A NEW DISTRICT

For District 11 Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez, any trip through the neighborhoods around the Southside of Fort Worth is a trip down memory lane. In Fairmount, there’s the Fire House Community Center, where she played baseball as a child, and De Zavala Elementary School, where she was a member of the Girl Scouts troop that nurtured her interests in art and science. In the Rosemont neighborhood, where her parents eventually settled and where she now calls home, there’s her alma mater, R.L. Paschal High School.

When Martinez learned that portions of this area she knew and loved so well would be included in District 11, a newly created Latino opportunity district, “I knew I had to run for the seat,” she says. “I wanted a Latino to represent the district. I was already experienced in local government. I already had established relationships in the area. I’m fluent in Spanish. I knew I would be able to hit the ground running and help educate residents on what they need to do to take advantage of all the resources that are out there for them.”

Throughout her 12 years of working for Tarrant County, and particularly her six years as executive administrator for Administrative and Constituent Services, she has frequently served as the point person connecting residents in need with the agencies that can assist them.

“I’ve developed this institutional knowledge that makes it easier to help residents navigate the system when they reach out to us,” she says.

Martinez says that her background also helps connect her to her constituents. Her parents, both Mexican immigrants, worked long hours and modeled for her an extremely strong work ethic, but money remained very tight. Martinez couldn’t afford college immediately after graduating from high school, so she joined the Marines.

While completing her undergraduate studies in exercise science at Texas Wesleyan University, she found herself on her own with two children and in need of work. She was able to parlay a part-time campus position with the nonprofit organization Generation Hope Laptop Program, founded by Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks, into a full-time position and her ensuing career with Tarrant County.

Brooks encouraged Martinez when she enrolled in the online MPA program offered by UTA.

“There were times I wanted to give up, because I had a lot going on in my life at that time,” she says. “But my professors were very helpful and were really there when I needed them. It was a great experience.”

When Martinez won the District 11 race in November 2023, she made history as the first Latina elected to serve on the Fort Worth City Council. “It felt so great for my daughter, Bella, to see me sworn in,” she says, “and to be someone to look up to for all these other young Latinas out there who have tried or who are trying to be a part of their local government.”

Carlos Flores

COMMITTED TO FORT WORTH

To borrow from the famous Will Rogers saying, Carlos Flores, a third-generation resident of Fort Worth’s Northside and District 2 councilman, never met a committee he didn’t like.

“There was a running joke in City Hall that the only reason I became a city council member was because I ran out of boards, commissions, and committees to serve on,” Flores says. “I like to be involved. I want something to challenge me and to bring opportunities to use what I’ve learned along the way to improve things.”

What Flores learned along the way at UTA gave him a firm foundation for his successful career as an aeronautical engineer, the same profession as his late father, Stan. He fondly remembers adjunct assistant professor Vatsal Joshi.

“Dr. Joshi helped me wrap my head around the concepts of finite element analysis,” he says. “It was only later, when I ended up using those very principles in my job, that I appreciated just how patient he had been with me.”

Flores worked for over 20 years in the aeronautical industry with Raytheon and other firms, but when service to the city came calling, he answered, serving on various commissions and committees.

“The committee work afforded me the opportunity to begin to learn various aspects of city government and how it works,” he says.

Since his election in 2017, Flores has spearheaded a number of initiatives, including street and sidewalk repair, tree plantings, safety and security measures, and more.

He has also played a key role in the private-public partnership driving the revitalization of the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. It’s a project near to his heart; his father sold cattle at auction at the stockyards in its waning days. In fact, Flores and his brother keep their father’s cattle ranch in Cleburne going as a labor of love. “The ranch really reinforced our work ethic,” Flores says. “It’s about being smart about what you can do in the time that you have.”

As he continues to devote himself full-time to the city council, Flores stays focused on improving the lives of people in Fort Worth, including his own family.

“I might not be able to fully resolve something to everyone’s satisfaction, but in whatever I encounter, I endeavor to leave it better than I found it,” he says.

Crouch notes that Flores is a “shining example” of the versatility of an engineering degree.

“Carlos has demonstrated how engineering principles can be applied to address real-world challenges in city governance and beyond,” he says. “By equipping our students with a versatile skill set, we prepare them to excel in diverse industries, making meaningful contributions to society wherever they choose to lead.”

Elizabeth Beck

THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP

Throughout her life, District 9 Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck has cherished the tight bond she has felt with her community.

“Fort Worth has this way of sucking you in and not ever letting you go,” she says. “People have such a close connection to this place and hold it dear. That connection has a way of bringing you into the orbit of people who you need to know and need to be with.”

The military veteran and employment attorney credits her own Fort Worth connections for getting her through a tremendously difficult childhood. Both of her parents were drug addicts. After her parents divorced, her father was homeless for long stretches of time.

“I was fortunate to have friends with great parents who looked out for me and gave me a safe space,” she says. “And I had a really amazing high school guidance counselor who went above and beyond to make sure that I graduated and didn’t limit myself in my life.”

After high school, Beck joined the U.S. Army Reserves and spent eight and a half years in the 223rd Maintenance Company. In 2005, she was deployed to Iraq for a year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“My military service taught me I can do hard things,” she says. “I’m less afraid to go into battle for a cause I care about because I have been in that situation before.”

Just a month after returning from Iraq, she started working on her bachelor’s degree in sociology at UTA. She then earned a master’s degree in urban planning at UTA as well. “It felt like an applied way to put what I’d learned in sociology into action and really help shape the world around me,” she says.

Her nearly four years as a transportation planner for the North Central Texas Council of Governments provided her tremendous insight into the issues affecting the metro area. When she decided to run for city council in 2021, “I knew there would be at least four new council members,” she says. “I saw an opportunity not to come in as a lone freshman but as the next generation of leadership.”

She relished the prospect of working on issues important to her and the district she loves, which stretches from downtown to the West Seventh Entertainment District to the Fairmount Historic District. Soon after taking office, Beck realized that a cause she cared deeply about was also important to her constituents: reducing homelessness. A focus for her has been securing funding to not only build housing for the unhoused, but also to address the factors that can cause homelessness, including mental health crises and domestic violence.

It can be difficult to balance the never-ending demands of the office with her law career and family time as a single parent to her three children. “Keeping family close helps me not only do my job as a mom but also as a council person because I’m reminded of why I’m doing this: To make sure their Fort Worth is better than my Fort Worth.”