Main Office
George I. Sanchez Building
Suite 3.308
1912 Speedway D5400
Austin, TX 78712-1604
8:00am - 5:00pm | Monday - Friday
Closed between 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Phone: (512) 471-7551
Fax: (512) 471-5975
Mailing Address
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
1912 Speedway D5400
Austin, TX 78712-1604
Department Leadership
Victor Sáenz -Department Chair
Phone: (512) 232-7519
Email: vsaenz@austin.utexas.edu
David DeMatthews - Associate Chair
Phone: (512) 232-2413
Email: ddematthews@austin.utexas.edu
Sarah Woulfin - Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) Chair
Liliana Garces - GSC Vice Chair
Email: liliana_garces@utexas.edu
Norma Cantú -Minority Liaison Officer
Phone: (512) 475-8593
Email: ncantu@law.utexas.edu
Jennifer Holme - Graduate Advisor
The graduate advisor supports academic and administrative matters required by the UT-Austin Graduate School including petitions, graduation applications, doctoral candidacy applications, changes in doctoral committees, requests for final oral, candidacy extensions, conditions on admission, course add/drop and grade status changes, petitions for later registration, withdrawals and semester cancellations, and scholastic status.
Phone: (512) 475-9398
Email: jholme@austin.utexas.edu
Program Leadership Advisors
Ph.D. and M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership
Liliana Garces - Program Co-Coordinator
Email: liliana_garces@utexas.edu
Lauren Schudde - Program Co-Coordinator
Phone: (512) 471-1623
Email: schudde@austin.utexas.edu
Executive Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership
Michael Nava - Ed.D. Program Faculty Director
Phone: (512) 680-2746
Email: michael.nava@austin.utexas.edu
Joe Wilcox - Ed.D. Program Director
Phone: (512) 425-0919
Email: joe.wilcox@austin.utexas.edu
Cooperative Superintendency Program (CSP)
Paul Cruz - Program Co-Coordinator
Email: paul.cruz@austin.utexas.edu
Pedro Reyes - Program Co-Coordinator
Phone: (512) 475-8569
Email: preyes@austin.utexas.edu
Educational Policy and Planning Program (EPP)
Huriya Jabbar - Ph.D. Program Coordinator
Email: jabbar@austin.utexas.edu
Christopher Brown - Master's Program Coordinator
Email: cpbrown@utexas.edu
Texas Principal Leadership Academy (TPLA)
Debra Cantu - Co-Director
Phone: (512) 471-6137
Email: debra.cantu@austin.utexas.edu
Terrance Green - Co-Director
Email: tgreen@austin.utexas.edu
Department Staff
Joanna Drake - Accounts Manager
Phone: (512) 471-4384
Email: joanna.drake@austin.utexas.edu
See Joanna for financial matters including account balances, account transactions, budgets, faculty purchases, purchase orders, business contracts and sponsorships.
Violeta Gonzales - Project Director
Phone: (512) 232-6226
Email: violeta.gonzales@austin.utexas.edu
Violeta manages the Wallace Foundation Grant, provides equity-centered professional and leadership development and supports the development of the Texas Principal Leadership Academy.
Jacinda Herrera - Academic Program Coordinator
Phone: (512) 475-8580
Email: j.herrera@austin.utexas.edu
See Jacinda for course scheduling, course instructor surveys, grade reporting, FaSET reporting, catalog changes, course inventory changes, and student support.
Wintana Hansen - Administrative Associate
Phone: (512) 471-0727
Email: wintana.hansen@austin.utexas.edu
Wintana manages the Education Research Center (ERC). She oversees the ERC researcher onboarding, scheduling, purchasing and payment processes.
Diamond Lowe - Administrative Associate
Phone: (512) 475-8591
Email: diamond.lowe@austin.utexas.edu
See Diamond for room reservations not related to course scheduling, the department chair's calendar, event coordination, travel coordination, purchasing and payment processes.
Aaron Pyle - Administrative Manager
Phone: (512) 475-8578
Email: aaron.pyle@austin.utexas.edu
See Aaron for Human Resources (Student, Staff and Faculty Appointments), Faculty Promotion and Tenure, Faculty Third-year Reviews, Staff Annual Performance and department events.
Kelsey Samsel - Graduate Program Administrator
Phone: (512) 475-8570
Email: ELPGradCoordinator@austin.utexas.edu
See Kelsey for graduate program coordination needs as well as outreach, admissions, recruitment, orientation, registration and graduation activities.