UTSA welcomes 50 new faculty members this week

(Aug. 16, 2018) -- UTSA will begin a new academic year with 50 new assistant, associate and full professors joining its ranks. The new faculty members bring their talent from a host of prestigious institutions from around the nation and world.

“The faculty are the core and heart of this university,” shared Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy in her welcome to the faculty during this week’s new faculty orientation. “You’re here at UTSA to advance knowledge through discovery application and translation and to ensure the success of our students. As a new faculty member, we not only help you to establish your own research area, we provide the opportunity to collaborate and be part of a team of faculty colleagues addressing today’s grand challenges. Furthermore, our UTSA students are hungry to work with you as a faculty member and experience the passion of underlying the diversity of scholarship that goes on here from the laboratories to the library.”

The incoming faculty members chose UTSA for a variety of reasons.

“UTSA has a great research vision for the upcoming years and I am eager to contribute to this exciting opportunity, without reducing quality of teaching,” stated Arka Roy, who is joining the Department of Management Science and Statistics.

“I decided to come to UTSA because the position I've taken will provide me an exciting opportunity to establish an internationally recognized research program that has implications for natural resource management in a state facing rapid global change, and in one of the fastest growing research universities in the country,” said Jennifer Smith, who is joining the Department of Environmental Science and Ecology. “I am also excited to hold a position in a university that is committed to diversity and inclusion such as UTSA!”

“The institution and department provide great opportunities to work with groups of students, mentor master's and doctoral students, and perform research, while having the potential to establish collaborations with colleagues and adjacent institutions,” shared Hugo Giambini, who is joining the Department of Biomedical Engineering. “It is an ideal environment to teach the next generation of scientist how to combine engineering knowledge to solve clinical problems and diseases affecting the population.”

“I want to be part of the drive for teaching excellence at UTSA while being able to fulfil a research agenda that will keep the humanities vibrant and vital,” said Kerry Sinanan, who is joining the Department of English. “I see UTSA as a place where research and teaching can also have a public role at a time when the engagement of universities with a wider sphere is needed.”

This year's new faculty members come from institutions such as Arizona State University, Florida State University, Harvard University, Penn State University, Princeton University, Purdue University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, University of Calgary, University of California, Berkeley, the University of Texas at Austin, Victoria University of Wellington, and Virginia Tech.

Eleven of this year’s new faculty were hired in the fields of analytics and data sciences. Through cluster hiring initiatives, UTSA has hired 22 exceptional faculty over the past two years to help advance UTSA’s areas of research excellence in brain health, cybersecurity, and analytics and data science.

In addition, this year’s cohort includes two new department chairs: Tracy Cowden in Music; and Nathan Richardson in Modern Languages and Literatures.

UTSA has roughly 1,350 faculty members. The university is ranked among the nation’s top five young universities, according to Times Higher Education.

— KC Gonzalez

Learn more about UTSA's new faculty.

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