Ronnau New Dean of Graduate Studies

Celebrate With Us The Success of the Faculty and Staff of UTB/TSC

Dr. Alexa Pfister, Human Resources Development Manager, received her doctorate in education from the University of Houston. She successfully defended her dissertation entitled "The Effect of Personality Type of Bilingual Students on English Reading Performance in a Computer Driven Developmental Reading Laboratory: Implications for Educational Leaders."

James Holt, Dean of Workforce Training and Continuing Education, received his Master of Science degree in Science and Technology Commercialization from the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

Douglas Ferrier, Director of the Library, served as a member of a reaffirmation team for accreditation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The team visited Troy State University-Dothan in Dothan, Alabama.

Ronnie Zamora, Director of Publications, recently completed his first season as television play-by-play announcer for The University of Texas-Pan American men's home basketball games, which were broadcast on the XHFOX-17. Zamora has also been broadcasting high school football games for various radio stations for 14 years.

Dr. Marge Chavez, Assistant Professor of Associate Degree Nursing, received her doctorate in health care education from Southwestern University in Florida. She successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Development of a Binational Community Health Nursing Course for The University of Texas at Brownsville with a plan for Implementation and Evaluation."

Yolanda Manautou Palmer, JD, Records Management Program Director, continues to share her legal expertise with high school students. She served as a Judge, for the Texas High School Mock Trial Competition sponsored by the Region One Education Service Center, held in February in the 93rd District Court in Edinburg, Texas.

Dr. Virginia Wood, Chair of the Behavioral Sciences Department, presented a paper entitled “Memory discrimination for common and unusual acts performed by the self and other” at the Southeastern Psychology Association in New Orleans, Louisiana in March. This paper is the result of research done on campus.

Dr. Gene J. Paull, Chair of the Physical Sciences Department, co-authored a paper entitled "Building a Geological Database for the Texas-Mexico Border" at the 2000 Geological Society of America, South-Central Division Conference held at The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Dr. Alma G. Leal, Associate Professor in School Specialties, was invited by the State Board for Educator Certification to serve on a committee to review certification standards for school counselors. These standards will be used to develop the new ExCET for Professional school counselors. She is also serving as secretary of the Texas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.

Dr. Apolinar Zapata, Lecturer in Engineering Technology, led a presentation "Determination of the maximum variation of the external flow in certain generalized networks" at the Seventh INFORMS (Institute for the Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Computing Society Conference on OR and Computing Tools for the New Millennium held in Cancun, Mexico.

Dr. Zhong Ling Xu, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Alfredo Muñoz, Assistant Professor of Biology, and Juan José Perez, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, have been nominated to Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Their former students nominated them as “Teachers Who Made A Difference.” Five percent of the nation's teachers are honored each year.

Dr. Ralph Hausman, Professor of Special Education, has co-authored a manuscript entitled "Development of a relatively inexpensive distance learning program for bilingual educational diagnosticians along the Texas/Mexico Border Corridor” that has been accepted for publication in the Spring 2000 issue of the Texas Teacher Education Forum.

Dr. Tony Zavaleta, Vice President for External Affairs, Dr. José G. Martín, Dean of the College, Mathematics and Technology, and René Sainz, Educational Technologies Manager, traveled to Durango, Mexico in March to formalize collaborative agreements between UTB/TSC and entities in the State of Durango in support of the Division of External Affairs.

At the Congreso de Literatura Mexicana in El Paso, Texas in February, Dr. Francisco Juarez-Torres, Lecturer in Modern Languages, presented a paper "Novela Mexicana del Fin de siglo," and Dr. Lidia Diaz, Assistant Professor in Modern Languages, presented a paper "La Otredad Reivindicada en un Texto Zapoteca para Niños." Several undergraduate and graduate students also attended the conference.

Mary S. Wagner and Raymond Simonsen, Assistant Professors in Mathematics, made a presentation on “Teaching Word Problems to the Developmental Student” at the South Texas Mathematics Conference held in San Antonio in February.

At the International Applied Business Research Conference held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in March, Dr. Suzanne Hardebeck, Associate Professor of Management, Dr. Douglas Cagwin, Assistant Professor of Accounting, and Dr. Betsy Boze, Dean of the School of Business, presented a paper they co-authored entitled “International versus Domestic Motor Carrier Human Resource Management Practices” by presentation a Mexico. National and international motor carriers were evaluated to determine the effect of complexity on their perceptions of the importance of various management practices.

A paper entitled “Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Safe Harbors from Point and Click Pirates?” written by Dr. Joe Zavaletta, Assistant Professor of Accounting, was selected as the Distinguished Paper for the March meeting of the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business, held in San Antonio.

At the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences Annual Conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada in February, Dr. Marvin Lovett, Associate Professor in Business Administration, presented two papers. The first entitled "C.A.L.M. vs E-C.A.L.M., Consignment Auction Liquidation Marketing vs. Electronic-Consignment Auction Liquidation Marketing Methods: A Comparative Analysis" and the second entitled "Get Real: Realizing, Experiencing, Applying and Localizing Generalized Business Course Content: A Descriptive Analysis.”

Dr. Douglas Cagwin, Assistant Professor of Accounting, presented an article entitled “The Association of Use of New Business Initiatives with Improvement in Financial Performance” at the American Accounting Association Southwest Regional Meeting held in San Antonio in March. His paper was also published in the conference proceedings.

At the meeting of the 2000 American Educational Research Association held in New Orleans, Louisiana in April, Dr. Jaime H. Garcia, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, presented his paper entitled “The Social Construction of race in Two Border Cities: Geographically Close, Conceptually Apart.”

Also presenting papers were Dr. Iliana Alanis, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. Her paper was entitled "Women on a Hero's Journey." Dr. James Telese, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, presented his paper entitled. "School Algebra Teaching Reform."

Carlos G. Gómez, Professor of Fine Arts, has been invited by the Rio Grande Museum to have a One-Man Show that will open in September. His exhibit called “Provenance” has been carefully curated and is an example of the most avant-garde artwork that is being produced in Texas.

Dr. Bill Davis, Assistant Professor of Physical Sciences, has had his article "Group Contribution Analysis Applied to the Havriliak-Negami Model for Polyurethanes.” accepted for publication in the journal Computational and Theoretical Polymer Science.

Julie Larson, Associate Master Technical Instructor in English and Speech, and Pamela Herring, Lecturer in English and Speech, presented a paper entitled, "Nontraditional Ways of Reaching Nontraditional Students" at the First Year Experience Conference in Columbia, South Carolina in February.

Allison Abel, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, has written an article entitled "Costs of reproduction in male lizards, Sceloporus virgatus" in Oikos, a peer-reviewed professional journal for ecologists.

Dr. Mark Sorenson, Director of Continuing Education, was re-elected as Education Director for the Lower Valley Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The SHRM is the world's leading professional association of Human Resource Managers. Chapter #313 has members that are HR managers from companies throughout Cameron County that meet monthly to advance the state of Human Resource management in the region.

At UTB/TSC commencement ceremonies held in May, Lupita Gomez, Secretary in External Affairs Office, received her Bachelor of Arts degree; and Blanca Torrez, Administrative Clerk in the School of Education, received her Associate in Arts degree.

Dr. Charles “Chip” Dameron, Associate Professor of English, has published a new book of poetry. Hook and Bloodline is his third book of poetry and is a collection of poems that are a mixture of memories, experiences, people, places, and the imagination. Many of the poems are set in the Rio Grande Valley and are about bird watching on the coast, ghosts on the UTB/TSC campus, and Mexican immigrants who cross the river.

Dr. Carol McNabb, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, performed for the sixth year in a row at the Desert Foothills Music Festival near Scottsdale, Arizona in February. She performed on bassoon in a woodwind quintet and in several other concerts in the chamber orchestra. She also performed on oboe with the Corpus Christi Symphony in March.

Dr. Steve Chamberlain, Assistant Professor of School Specialties, received his doctorate in special education degree from The University of Texas at Austin. He successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Successful European American Special Educators' Perspectives about Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Mild Disabilities."

Richard Urbis, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, was the guest artist and featured soloist with the State Symphony Orchestra of Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico, performing the Mozart Piano Concerto in C Major, K 467. He received four curtain calls and rave reviews from the critics.

Dr. Maosen Zhong, Assistant Professor of Finance, was awarded the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Best Paper Award at the Southwestern Finance Association (SWFA) 2000 meeting held in San Antonio, Texas and the Outstanding Paper in Finance for the 1999 Academy of Economics and Finance (AEF) annual meeting held in February in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Lucy G. Willis, Professor of Modern Languages, and Cheryl Phelps, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, delivered a presentation at the Texas Foreign Language Association Spring Conference in March at Nacogdoches, Texas. The presentation entitled “Autoricemos a nuestros estudiantes a autocorregirse” is based on research they had done in their bilingual Spanish classes.

Dr. Graciela P. Rosenberg, Professor of School Specialties, is co-author of Lectura, a series of books to teach Spanish reading. The series includes 18 student textbooks, K-6th, teacher's guides, assessment tests, handbooks, a computer management system. The books will be used in several school districts throughout the country.

Dr. James Telese, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, will be the principal investigator to oversee a $200,000 grant awarded to the UTB/TSC by NASA. The university was selected as a recipient of a Mathematics, Science and Technology Award for Teacher Education Programs for a proposal entitled “Content and Pedagogy Equals Master Mathematics Teachers-The South Texas Teachers Mathematics Teacher Preparation Program.”

Dr. Sue Zanne Urbis, Fine Arts Chairman, Dr. Francisco Rocafuerte, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Dr. Carol McNabb, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts performed in concerts in San Miguel de Allende, Ciudad Victoria, and Puebla, Mexico in May for the cities cultural associations. They also conducted recruiting sessions while on tour.

Dr. Javier A. Martínez, Assistant to the President, presented a paper entitled: “Diversity and Difference in Science Fiction: Some Possibilities, Some Problems” at the Science Fiction Research Association Annual Conference in June. He has also published two book reviews in The Hispanic Outlook of Higher Education and two book reviews in The Science Fiction Research Association Review.

Dr. Rafael Otero, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, received his doctorate in business from The University of Texas-Pan American. He successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Effects of Labor Unions on Regional Economic Development in Mexico"

At the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana held in March, Dr. Ben Brown, Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice, presented a paper entitled "The Police in the Public Eye." Dr. Bill Wilkinson, Professor of Criminal Justice, and Dr. Norman Binder, Professor and Chair of the Social Sciences Department, presented a paper entitled "The Court System of the U.S. and Mexico: A Comparative Analysis.”

The National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NIOSD) has honored Sessia Wyche, Associate Professor of Mathematics, and Dr. Lucy Willis, Professor of Modern Languages, Alfredo Muñoz, Assistant Professor of Biology, and Dr. Marvin Lovett, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, have been named a 2000 NISOD Excellence Award recipient. The award honors excellence in teaching activities among community college faculty.

Dr. Scott Reid, Assistant Professor of Sociology, received his doctorate in sociology from Kent State University in Ohio. He successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Augmenting Identity Theory: Toward an Empirical Measure of Role Identity Prominence."