Fellows Directory

Amelia Acker

Amelia Acker is an associate professor in the School of Information where she directs the Critical Data Studies Lab. Amelia researches people who build and maintain archives, data technologies, and information infrastructure. Amelia's PTF project is SCiSCHOOL, a science fiction book club that brings graduate students together to discuss the ethics and social impacts of near and future information technologies in our daily lives.

Renee Acosta

Renee’ Acosta is a Clinical Professor in the Pharmacy Practice Division and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Renee teaches extensively in the professional PharmD Program. Her primary instruction includes Nonprescription Pharmacotherapeutics and Self-Care I and II, and a UGS courses titled Self-Care and OTC Products. Her PTF project focused on the use of standardized patients in Objective Structured Clinical Exams(OSCEs).

Hina Azam

Dr. Hina Azam teaches courses in Islamic Studies such as Islamic theology, Islamic law, the Qur'an, Qur'an interpretation, and Islamic feminism, as well as a course on comparative religions of the Middle East. Her research focuses on women/gender/sexuality in Islam, ethics, and pedagogy. She supervises or serves as reader for undergraduate and graduate theses and dissertations across the University.

Matthew Balhoff

Matthew is a professor in the Hildebrand Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE) Department. Matt’s work as a PTF includes a curriculum-wide design project that is presented to the students in their first petroleum engineering class, taught in the spring of their first year. In every PGE class they are assigned at least one homework assignment or project taken directly from the design project. The objective of this initiative is to use unique methods and tools to develop an integrated and synergistic program.

Maura Borrego

Keffrelyn Brown

Courtney Byrd

As Founding Director of The University of Texas at Austin Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute, Courtney has unparalleled access to one of the largest and most diverse clinical populations of children and adults who stutter. Given the low incidence nature of this disorder, she feels a profound responsibility to share my unique access to the stuttering community with students, professors, and practicing clinicians across the globe. Her PTF initiative aims to do just that.

Andrew Carlson

Ashley Castleberry

As an Assistant Dean of Curriculum and Assessment in the Division of Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy, Dr. Castleberry teaches first- and second-year pharmacy students cardiovascular physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology and coordinates the Pharmacy Practice Lab course. As Division Head of Pharmacy Practice, she leads a team of 20 faculty. She is passionate about assessment, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and faculty development.

Stephanie Cawthon

Julia Clarke

Hands-on research experiences for undergraduates offer unique active-learning experiences with real-world questions. These experiences create communities and improve 4-year graduation rates. They may also help create a student body and alumni population that recognize the importance of the research mission of large R1 universities.

Tanya Clement

Tanya E Clement is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin. Her primary areas of research are textual studies, sound studies, and infrastructure studies as these concerns impact academic research, research libraries, and the creation of research tools and resources in Digital Humanities (DH).

Natalie Czimskey

Natalie Czimskey, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Texas where she earned all three of her degrees. She began teaching as a doctoral student in 2012 and continued teaching part time until completing her Ph.D. in 2019 when she joined the faculty full-time.  Her primary research area is adult neurogenic disorders with a special interest in traumatic brain injury, though her passion is teaching; she has taught 9 different courses in the past 2 years.

Patrick Davis

Professor Emeritus of Pharmacy (Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry). Teaches required and elective pharmacy coursework in drug metabolism, infectious diseases, and interprofessional health education. Also teaches a First-Year Signature Course on historical pandemics and their impact on society.

Michael Findley

Steven Finkelstein

Steven Finkelstein is a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Washington in 2003, his PhD in 2008 from Arizona State University, and from there he took a postdoctoral position at Texas A&M University. In 2011 he earned a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship which he took to the University of Texas in Austin, where he was hired on as faculty in 2012. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early universe, and the interplay of these sources with reionization.

Vernita Gordon

I did my undergraduate work at Vanderbilt, with a double major in physics and math, and my Ph.D. work in physics at Harvard. At both institutions, I saw and experienced the positive difference that caring, committed instructors and a nurturing university community can make in students' lives. I have been a faculty member in the Physics department at UT Austin since 2010. I have taught introductory calculus-based mechanics for Physics majors, a Plan II Physics course for liberal arts honors students, and an upper-division course on Biological Physics.

Lars Hinrichs

Joel Johnson

Joel Johnson is a Second-Year Teaching Fellow and served as the First Year Representative on the PTF Steering Committee in 2019.

Peniel Joseph

Peniel Joseph is the First-Year Representative on the 2020 PTF Steering Committee.

Lee Ann Kahlor

Fernanda Leite

Fernanda Leite is a Professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds the John A. Focht Centennial Teaching Fellowship in Civil Engineering. She is the past Chair of a University-wide Bridging Barriers research initiative called Planet Texas 2050. Her built environment research program sits at the interface of engineering and computing. She teaches courses on Building Information Modeling, Project Management and Economics, Construction Safety, and Sustainable Systems Engineering.

Brad Love

Brad Love is the PTF Ambassador to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and was the 2018 Chair of the Provost's Teaching Fellows.

Christina Markert

Diane McDaniel Rhodes

Dr. Rhodes teaches undergraduate courses in social justice and community practice. Her teaching passions focus on creating engagement and belonging through pedagogy and practice. A graduate of the Stanford Teaching and Learning Studio and the Academy of College and University Educators, she continually seeks new knowledge about teaching and works to provide knowledge gained to colleagues through writing and mentoring. "I probably learn the most about teaching from my students, who are some of the most generous and smartest folx I know."