Administration and Leadership

I lead academic change through shared governance, investment in people, and responsible stewardship. As Department Chair and Professor at UTEP, I work with faculty and staff to strengthen programs across the humanities and social sciences and connect students’ education with professional opportunity.

Leadership scope: $1.6M departmental budget · 26 full-time faculty · approximately 24 adjunct faculty · 3 full-time staff · 3 undergraduate majors and 2 graduate programs

Organizational leadership and governance

I led the integration of Chicano Studies with Languages and Linguistics and the development of our first faculty-driven five-year strategic plan. Together, we established shared governance, workload standards, and tenure and promotion guidelines.

Appointed by the President to the Working Group on Faculty Governance, I helped develop the Faculty Advisory Bodies guidelines during university-wide organizational change. I also chaired Graduate Council and the Graduate Education Committee and now serve as the committee’s Secretary.

Academic program transformation

Through faculty-led processes, we redesigned our degrees to make them more relevant to students. We revamped undergraduate Linguistics as Linguistics and Bilingualism, placing bilingualism at the center of the program, and transformed the Linguistics M.A. into Bilingualism and Applied Linguistics, emphasizing bilingualism and applied study. In Spanish, we added undergraduate concentrations in Translation and Interpreting, Chicano Studies, and Applied Spanish. 

We also advanced a proposed B.A. in Translation and Interpreting, developed professional microcredentials and community-based internships, developed core courses, and initiated AI Literacy Across the Curriculum.

People and resources

I invest in faculty mentoring, professional development, and advancement through collaborative peer review, expanded instructor development, and support for research travel and open-access publication.

Course registrations grew 24% and average section enrollment approximately 32% from Fall 2023 to Fall 2026. Net revenue per section increased 71%, from $7,920 to $13,527, from Fall 2024 to Fall 2026. Improved course utilization helped sustain smaller upper-division and graduate offerings needed for degree completion.

I oversee Graham Hall space allocation and worked with College leadership and other units to secure replacement research space after flood damage, enabling faculty to resume their research.

As co-founder of Bilingualism Matters @ El Paso, I build partnerships with schools, healthcare providers, and community organizations to connect research with public understanding.

See my CV for the full record of leadership, scholarship, and service.