He is a lawyer and has a master's degree in Law from the University of Guadalajara. He has a Doctor in Educational Technology from the University of Salamanca, Spain. He completed a postdoctoral degree with the research “The University facing the challenge of training new generations” in the Training Program on Applied Research for Public Organizations Non-Profit, and Education Sectors at the University of New Mexico, in the city of Albuquerque, United States.

For more than 20 years and without interruption he has been a university professor in undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Guadalajara, where he is currently a professor-researcher C, with a PRODEP profile. During his academic career he has participated in more than twenty books, has presented thirty-eight publications and has been responsible for various research projects.

In 1995 he was elected School Counselor and Vice President of the Student Society at High School 7 of the University of Guadalajara. In 1999 he was General University Counselor for the Legal Studies Division and general representative of the CUCSH students in 2000.

He was elected president of the Federation of University Students (FEU) in 2001, becoming the best evaluated in the history of the organization, according to the local newspaper Mural (belonging to Grupo Reforma). As president of the FEU, he promoted the improvement of public transportation; He also reformed his organization's electoral regulations to have austere, transparent and equitable processes and organized the Latin American Student Congress for the first time in Mexico.

With the aim of making culture accessible to everyone instead of it being for a privileged few, he promoted the Free Culture project which consisted of organizing massive and free concerts, where young people took over the public space and listened to the most popular bands in the country of different genres.

In 2009 he was appointed Head of the Office of the President of the Guadalajara City Council, from where he promoted public policies focused on the recovery of public space through strategies to rescue urban and road spaces, positively impacting mobility, recreation, the use of the city and the quality of life of the people of Guadalajara.

In 2012 he coordinated the campaign of who became Governor of Jalisco, Aristóteles Sandoval, and was in charge of the transition team of the elected government. In March 2013, he was appointed Secretary of Planning, Administration and Finance of the State Government, where he began his position with administrative re-engineering of the executive branch and the promotion of an austerity plan that stopped spending and budget excesses. He distinguished himself for the order and responsibility with which he assumed the management of state finances, by renegotiating the debt that the state had and in less than two years he managed to raise the credit rating of the state's finances, rising 14 levels, according to the international rating agencies Fitch, HR Ratings and Moody's Investors Service.

In 2013, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) granted recognition to the Government of Jalisco for transparency in information on state public finances. It achieved first national place in transparency for the Government of Jalisco, according to the IMCO.

He carried out the largest resource management in the history of Jalisco for a project: more than 17 billion pesos for line 3 of the Electric Train, which was built without debt and with an exclusively federal budget, without the need for the state government to contribute a single peso.

It marked budget priorities with a resource exercise oriented to indicators of Subjective Well-being or Happiness (BSF), promoting actions linked to the use of clean energy and non-motorized mobility, implemented a successful sustainable mobility program with public bicycle[13]​ “My bike”, a program that was adopted by the following administrations and that, to date,[14]​ continues to grow throughout the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, registering 158 thousand users to date and more than 27 million trips made, as of December 2024. In addition, a free public transportation subsidy scheme was created for all students in the state of Jalisco through the “Bienevales” program.[15]​ Likewise, the “Backpacks with Supplies” Program was created, with which free backpacks and school supplies were delivered to all basic education children.[16]​.

In the public positions he has held, his love and concern for the University of Guadalajara has been evident. At the head of the Secretariat of Planning, Administration and Finance, he managed to commit the State Government to increase the amount of resources allocated to this institution, to balance the contributions it receives from the federal and state governments, ensuring a concurrence corresponding to 52% federal resources and 48% state resources.

Later he was nominated as a candidate[17]​ for the municipal presidency of Guadalajara by the PRI-Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) coalition. He was elected councilor of the Guadalajara City Council for the period 2015-2017. He distinguished himself by working in favor of the orderly growth of the city, promoted a transportation-oriented development model and proposed strategies for redensification and housing development to return harmonious and balanced urban development to Guadalajara.

In 2007 he was General Coordinator of Heritage, and then became General Coordinator of University Services until 2009.

In 2016, he returned to the University of Guadalajara as Rector of the Tonalá University Center,[18]​ a multi-thematic campus of the University Network of the University of Guadalajara. The youngest Center in the University Network at that time, characterized by having an innovative offer and unique educational plans in the country, under the ownership of the University Center its enrollment grew by 34% and the development in infrastructure was significant, managing, for example, the construction of the Regional Center for Business Quality[19]​ and the CUT Cinematheque,[20]​ a space with programming linked to the academic programs of the Center and as part of the comprehensive training of students.

During his administration from 2016 to 2019 at the Tonalá University Center, he built a solar garden of more than 4 thousand square meters,[21]​ a station for charging electric cars and a photovoltaic kiosk for electronic devices, in addition to a rainwater harvesting network, becoming a pioneering educational center in the use of clean energy and water management.

The Tonalá University Center obtained certification as an “Environmental Leader”[22]​ by the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development of the State of Jalisco. During his management, he made the University Center stand out for its sustainable vocation and its commitment to the training of young people with a high sense of environmental responsibility.

At the head of the CUTonalá, he began a historic administration for the population of the east of the city, obtaining the financial resources for the executive project of a Civil Hospital on a property donated by the University of Guadalajara for this purpose.[23] Today the Civil Hospital of the East provides medical services in the most backward area of ​​the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara.

In the academic field, Dr. Villanueva Lomelí creates the degree in Forensic Sciences,[24]​ to contribute directly to the correct procurement, administration and delivery of justice with professionals and scientists in the forensic field.

As of April 1, 2019 and until March 31, 2025, Doctor Ricardo Villanueva Lomelí served as General Rector of the University of Guadalajara, elected by its General University Council for the period 2019 - 2025.[25]​.

During his management at the head of the UdeG, its enrollment grew by 51,748 spaces. Regarding the Higher Secondary Level, the University of Guadalajara managed to become the only one in the country to accept 100% of applicants for a place to study 3 years ago.[26]​[27]​.

In an unprecedented act, he recognized the serious problem of harassment that occurred within the institution and publicly apologized to all women; students, teachers and administrators who systematically experienced harassment and harassment at the University and were not listened to at the time, nor attended to in their just claims and complaints.[28]​ It is from such an apology that she decisively promotes forceful policies of zero tolerance for any type of violence and especially gender violence.[29]​ Day after day she ensures that each space is free of violence for the thousands of women who pass through her classrooms.

Furthermore, with regard to gender equality, it modified the issuance of university degrees, now they have a gender perspective.[30]​ It also dictated a salary table with a gender perspective and today job positions are named with generic differentiation. It created a First Contact Network[31]​ in all campuses that have the function of being primary care agents for any situation of harassment or harassment that university students may suffer. An entire regulatory framework was approved aligning the regulations of responsibilities with a code of ethics and conduct and the Harassment and Harassment Protocol of the University of Guadalajara was designed.[32]​ In terms of prevention of these behaviors, the learning unit “Sexuality and Gender” was incorporated, which is currently taken by 67,692 young people per year.

He was the first Rector General to march in the streets alongside the sexual diversity community as a vehement defender of freedoms.

Regarding the growth of investment in infrastructure and educational equipment, it implemented a program to improve classrooms, laboratories, coexistence spaces and equipment throughout the university network. During his administration, 100% of the 4,300 classrooms that the University has were equipped and dignified. In addition, it carried out consultations to understand the needs of the students and, based on this, apply a prioritized investment taking into account the preferences of the student community.[33]​.

During the SARS-COV2 pandemic, he headed the Health Situation Table[34]​ and put university spaces and capacities at the service of Jalisco residents, converting the university network into a network of Covid-19 detection laboratories and later into a network of vaccination centers, together with the State Government, it implemented an action and containment plan to confront the pandemic. With this plan, the University carried out 350,000 PCR tests to cut the chains of contagion and more than 2 million vaccines were administered. Jalisco was recognized as the state that best faced the pandemic in Mexico.[35]​.

It promoted a transformation in the university network to convert all campuses into multi-thematic ones[36]​ and, in this way, be able to bring specific educational offers to young people throughout the metropolitan area and promote transdisciplinary collaboration at the University.

As a university student, he recognizes the value of the autonomy of Higher Education Institutions and has been a strong defender of it, marching in the street and promoting initiatives such as the reform of the General Law of Higher Education of the year 2021, which in its second article expanded the concept of university autonomy and on December 8, 2023, as Rector General, he accompanied the Governor of the state of Jalisco to present an initiative for the local Congress to grant a constitutional budget that establishes that the University receives annually 5 percent of the total budget of Jalisco and prevent the institution from being subject to changing budgets.[37]​[38]​ Such initiative gave the University financial autonomy, which will allow it to expand coverage significantly and ensure an educational space for young people of the next generations.[39]​.

He is president of the University Cultural Center "Centro Cultural Universitario (Universidad de Guadalajara)") of the University of Guadalajara, recognized as one of the most important cultural developments in Mexico and the greatest reference for cultural extension of universities in the country.

The University of Valencia, Spain and the Enrique Díaz De León University awarded him their highest award, doctorate honoris causa, in recognition of his work in expanding access to education, promoting critical thinking and promoting international cooperation in the field of scientific research.[40]​[41]​.

According to the National Ranking of Rectors of Public Universities, he was recognized as the Best Evaluated Rector in Mexico in 2023 and 2025, considering his work to expand enrollment, improve the quality of education provided in classrooms and the improvement of facilities.[42]​.

In June 2019, the Congress of the State of Jalisco granted him recognition of Environmental Merit[43][44]​ and in November 2020, he was the winner of the “State Award for Innovation, Science and Technology, Jalisco 2020 in the category of Science and Technology against COVID-19.”[45]​.

He is a lawyer and has a master's degree in Law from the University of Guadalajara. He has a Doctor in Educational Technology from the University of Salamanca, Spain. He completed a postdoctoral degree with the research “The University facing the challenge of training new generations” in the Training Program on Applied Research for Public Organizations Non-Profit, and Education Sectors at the University of New Mexico, in the city of Albuquerque, United States.

For more than 20 years and without interruption he has been a university professor in undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Guadalajara, where he is currently a professor-researcher C, with a PRODEP profile. During his academic career he has participated in more than twenty books, has presented thirty-eight publications and has been responsible for various research projects.

In 1995 he was elected School Counselor and Vice President of the Student Society at High School 7 of the University of Guadalajara. In 1999 he was General University Counselor for the Legal Studies Division and general representative of the CUCSH students in 2000.

He was elected president of the Federation of University Students (FEU) in 2001, becoming the best evaluated in the history of the organization, according to the local newspaper Mural (belonging to Grupo Reforma). As president of the FEU, he promoted the improvement of public transportation; He also reformed his organization's electoral regulations to have austere, transparent and equitable processes and organized the Latin American Student Congress for the first time in Mexico.

With the aim of making culture accessible to everyone instead of it being for a privileged few, he promoted the Free Culture project which consisted of organizing massive and free concerts, where young people took over the public space and listened to the most popular bands in the country of different genres.

In 2009 he was appointed Head of the Office of the President of the Guadalajara City Council, from where he promoted public policies focused on the recovery of public space through strategies to rescue urban and road spaces, positively impacting mobility, recreation, the use of the city and the quality of life of the people of Guadalajara.

In 2012 he coordinated the campaign of who became Governor of Jalisco, Aristóteles Sandoval, and was in charge of the transition team of the elected government. In March 2013, he was appointed Secretary of Planning, Administration and Finance of the State Government, where he began his position with administrative re-engineering of the executive branch and the promotion of an austerity plan that stopped spending and budget excesses. He distinguished himself for the order and responsibility with which he assumed the management of state finances, by renegotiating the debt that the state had and in less than two years he managed to raise the credit rating of the state's finances, rising 14 levels, according to the international rating agencies Fitch, HR Ratings and Moody's Investors Service.

In 2013, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) granted recognition to the Government of Jalisco for transparency in information on state public finances. It achieved first national place in transparency for the Government of Jalisco, according to the IMCO.

He carried out the largest resource management in the history of Jalisco for a project: more than 17 billion pesos for line 3 of the Electric Train, which was built without debt and with an exclusively federal budget, without the need for the state government to contribute a single peso.

It marked budget priorities with a resource exercise oriented to indicators of Subjective Well-being or Happiness (BSF), promoting actions linked to the use of clean energy and non-motorized mobility, implemented a successful sustainable mobility program with public bicycle[13]​ “My bike”, a program that was adopted by the following administrations and that, to date,[14]​ continues to grow throughout the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, registering 158 thousand users to date and more than 27 million trips made, as of December 2024. In addition, a free public transportation subsidy scheme was created for all students in the state of Jalisco through the “Bienevales” program.[15]​ Likewise, the “Backpacks with Supplies” Program was created, with which free backpacks and school supplies were delivered to all basic education children.[16]​.

In the public positions he has held, his love and concern for the University of Guadalajara has been evident. At the head of the Secretariat of Planning, Administration and Finance, he managed to commit the State Government to increase the amount of resources allocated to this institution, to balance the contributions it receives from the federal and state governments, ensuring a concurrence corresponding to 52% federal resources and 48% state resources.

Later he was nominated as a candidate[17]​ for the municipal presidency of Guadalajara by the PRI-Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) coalition. He was elected councilor of the Guadalajara City Council for the period 2015-2017. He distinguished himself by working in favor of the orderly growth of the city, promoted a transportation-oriented development model and proposed strategies for redensification and housing development to return harmonious and balanced urban development to Guadalajara.

In 2007 he was General Coordinator of Heritage, and then became General Coordinator of University Services until 2009.

In 2016, he returned to the University of Guadalajara as Rector of the Tonalá University Center,[18]​ a multi-thematic campus of the University Network of the University of Guadalajara. The youngest Center in the University Network at that time, characterized by having an innovative offer and unique educational plans in the country, under the ownership of the University Center its enrollment grew by 34% and the development in infrastructure was significant, managing, for example, the construction of the Regional Center for Business Quality[19]​ and the CUT Cinematheque,[20]​ a space with programming linked to the academic programs of the Center and as part of the comprehensive training of students.

During his administration from 2016 to 2019 at the Tonalá University Center, he built a solar garden of more than 4 thousand square meters,[21]​ a station for charging electric cars and a photovoltaic kiosk for electronic devices, in addition to a rainwater harvesting network, becoming a pioneering educational center in the use of clean energy and water management.

The Tonalá University Center obtained certification as an “Environmental Leader”[22]​ by the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development of the State of Jalisco. During his management, he made the University Center stand out for its sustainable vocation and its commitment to the training of young people with a high sense of environmental responsibility.

At the head of the CUTonalá, he began a historic administration for the population of the east of the city, obtaining the financial resources for the executive project of a Civil Hospital on a property donated by the University of Guadalajara for this purpose.[23] Today the Civil Hospital of the East provides medical services in the most backward area of ​​the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara.

In the academic field, Dr. Villanueva Lomelí creates the degree in Forensic Sciences,[24]​ to contribute directly to the correct procurement, administration and delivery of justice with professionals and scientists in the forensic field.

As of April 1, 2019 and until March 31, 2025, Doctor Ricardo Villanueva Lomelí served as General Rector of the University of Guadalajara, elected by its General University Council for the period 2019 - 2025.[25]​.

During his management at the head of the UdeG, its enrollment grew by 51,748 spaces. Regarding the Higher Secondary Level, the University of Guadalajara managed to become the only one in the country to accept 100% of applicants for a place to study 3 years ago.[26]​[27]​.

In an unprecedented act, he recognized the serious problem of harassment that occurred within the institution and publicly apologized to all women; students, teachers and administrators who systematically experienced harassment and harassment at the University and were not listened to at the time, nor attended to in their just claims and complaints.[28]​ It is from such an apology that she decisively promotes forceful policies of zero tolerance for any type of violence and especially gender violence.[29]​ Day after day she ensures that each space is free of violence for the thousands of women who pass through her classrooms.

Furthermore, with regard to gender equality, it modified the issuance of university degrees, now they have a gender perspective.[30]​ It also dictated a salary table with a gender perspective and today job positions are named with generic differentiation. It created a First Contact Network[31]​ in all campuses that have the function of being primary care agents for any situation of harassment or harassment that university students may suffer. An entire regulatory framework was approved aligning the regulations of responsibilities with a code of ethics and conduct and the Harassment and Harassment Protocol of the University of Guadalajara was designed.[32]​ In terms of prevention of these behaviors, the learning unit “Sexuality and Gender” was incorporated, which is currently taken by 67,692 young people per year.

He was the first Rector General to march in the streets alongside the sexual diversity community as a vehement defender of freedoms.

Regarding the growth of investment in infrastructure and educational equipment, it implemented a program to improve classrooms, laboratories, coexistence spaces and equipment throughout the university network. During his administration, 100% of the 4,300 classrooms that the University has were equipped and dignified. In addition, it carried out consultations to understand the needs of the students and, based on this, apply a prioritized investment taking into account the preferences of the student community.[33]​.

During the SARS-COV2 pandemic, he headed the Health Situation Table[34]​ and put university spaces and capacities at the service of Jalisco residents, converting the university network into a network of Covid-19 detection laboratories and later into a network of vaccination centers, together with the State Government, it implemented an action and containment plan to confront the pandemic. With this plan, the University carried out 350,000 PCR tests to cut the chains of contagion and more than 2 million vaccines were administered. Jalisco was recognized as the state that best faced the pandemic in Mexico.[35]​.

It promoted a transformation in the university network to convert all campuses into multi-thematic ones[36]​ and, in this way, be able to bring specific educational offers to young people throughout the metropolitan area and promote transdisciplinary collaboration at the University.

As a university student, he recognizes the value of the autonomy of Higher Education Institutions and has been a strong defender of it, marching in the street and promoting initiatives such as the reform of the General Law of Higher Education of the year 2021, which in its second article expanded the concept of university autonomy and on December 8, 2023, as Rector General, he accompanied the Governor of the state of Jalisco to present an initiative for the local Congress to grant a constitutional budget that establishes that the University receives annually 5 percent of the total budget of Jalisco and prevent the institution from being subject to changing budgets.[37]​[38]​ Such initiative gave the University financial autonomy, which will allow it to expand coverage significantly and ensure an educational space for young people of the next generations.[39]​.

He is president of the University Cultural Center "Centro Cultural Universitario (Universidad de Guadalajara)") of the University of Guadalajara, recognized as one of the most important cultural developments in Mexico and the greatest reference for cultural extension of universities in the country.

The University of Valencia, Spain and the Enrique Díaz De León University awarded him their highest award, doctorate honoris causa, in recognition of his work in expanding access to education, promoting critical thinking and promoting international cooperation in the field of scientific research.[40]​[41]​.

According to the National Ranking of Rectors of Public Universities, he was recognized as the Best Evaluated Rector in Mexico in 2023 and 2025, considering his work to expand enrollment, improve the quality of education provided in classrooms and the improvement of facilities.[42]​.

In June 2019, the Congress of the State of Jalisco granted him recognition of Environmental Merit[43][44]​ and in November 2020, he was the winner of the “State Award for Innovation, Science and Technology, Jalisco 2020 in the category of Science and Technology against COVID-19.”[45]​.