Dean Charles R. Martinez is pleased to announce the College of Education’s faculty members who have recently been appointed to endowed professorships and chairs.
These appointments reflect our steadfast dedication to fostering a dynamic academic environment supported by faculty members who bring a wealth of knowledge, research and passion to our community. Please join me in congratulating the following individuals on this outstanding accomplishment:
Professor Allison Skerrett has been appointed to the Barbie M. and Gary L. Coleman Professorship in Education. Dr. Skerrett currently serves as the Director of Teacher Education for the college. Dr. Skerrett is also an affiliate of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies and the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies. Her research areas include secondary English education in urban contexts, adolescent literacy practices in and outside school contexts, transnational youth literacy practices and sociocultural influences on teaching and learning. She serves as an editor of the Journal of Literacy Research. Dr. Skerrett is a recipient of the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Elizabeth Shatto Massey Award for Excellence in Teacher Education.
Professor Mark Eddy, who holds a joint appointment in Educational Psychology and Kinesiology and Health Education, is the newest recipient of the Margie Gurley Seay Centennial Professorship in Education. Dr. Eddy, a licensed psychologist, researches prevention and intervention programs intended to benefit children and families and is an investigator on more than 50 research grants and contracts. He serves on the board of the Society for Prevention Research and on the executive and steering committees for the Texas Center for Equity Promotion (TexCEP). He is also a member of the Criminal Justice Bridging Discipline Program Planning Committee for the university.
Professor Alexandra Loukas, who previously held the Barbie M. and Gary L. Coleman Professorship in Education, has been appointed to the Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Kinesiology and Health Education. Dr. Loukas serves as the college’s Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and is a recipient of the Dean’s Distinguished Faculty Award. Her research focuses on adolescent and young adult problem behavior development and tobacco use and cessation, and she is a principal investigator on grants from the Texas Department of State Health Services, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Loukas is also an affiliate faculty member of TexCEP and a consulting editor for the journal Adversity and Resilience Science.
Professor Pedro Reyes has been re-appointed as the Ashbel Smith Professor of Education Leadership & Policy. Currently the chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, Dr. Reyes is also co-director of the Cooperative Superintendent Program and executive director of the Texas Education Research Center. His research examines state and national policies that create education inequality and opportunity. Over the course of his career, he has received grant funding from The Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education and the Annenberg Foundation, among many others. He recently received the Roald Campbell Lifetime Achievement Award from the University Council for Educational Administration. Dr. Reyes has held many leadership roles throughout his career, including as executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at UT System, where he led the effort to establish UT Rio Grande Valley and helped with the establishment of the Dell Medical School at UT Austin.
Professor John Bartholomew now holds the H. E. Hartfelder/The Southland Corporation Regents Chair in Human Resource Development. Previously chair of Kinesiology and Health Education, he is now the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the college. He also serves as editor-in-chief of Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine and is a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology. Dr. Bartholomew’s research centers around the promotion of physical activity with a specific interest in elementary school settings. Dr. Bartholomew has served on the board of the American Kinesiology Association and received the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2004). He previously held the Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Kinesiology and Health Education.
Each of these faculty members has shown a tireless dedication to the advancement of educational practices, research and leadership. We look forward to witnessing the remarkable contributions they will continue to make in their respective fields and communities at large, and thank them sincerely for their unwavering support in service to advancing the mission of the college and the university.
