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:

• Linguistics and Bilingualism: revamped our undergraduate Linguistics degree to place bilingualism at the center of the program.

• Bilingualism and Applied Linguistics: revamped our Linguistics M.A. to emphasize bilingualism and applied study.

• Spanish: added undergraduate concentrations in Translation and Interpreting, Chicano Studies, and Applied Spanish.

We also developed professional microcredentials and community-based internships, advanced a proposed B.A. in Translation and Interpreting, 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.