SOCIOLOGY - Key Persons
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- Assistant Professor the Bush School of Government & Public Service
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- Sukam Associate Professor Department of Global Languages & Cultures
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- Coordinator
- Co - Director, Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Instructional Associate Professor Coordinator of Graduate Instruction LASB 376
- Instructional Associate Professor
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- Department of Psychological
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- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Healthy Living Team, Texas a & M AgriLife Center at Dallas
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- Lecturer, Division of Social Work, Behavioral and Political Sciences, Prairie View a & M University
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- Human Resources Generalist
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- Associate Professor LASB 354
- Department
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Senior Communications Specialist
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- Senior Administrative Coordinator
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- Geography and David Bullock Harris Professor of Geosciences Department of Geography
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- Assistant Professor Department of Educational Administration & Human Resource Development
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- Department of Anthropology
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- Department of Performance
Defne Over Assistant Professor LASB 356 (979) 845-7285 dover@tamu.edu she/her/hers
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- Director of Business Development
- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
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- Department of Communication
- Director of Race and Ethnic Studies Institute / Associate Professor
- Director of the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute
- Professor
Dr. Darrel Wanzer-Serrano is Director of the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University. He is also Core Faculty in the Latino/a and Mexican American Studies (LMAS) Program. His research is focused on the intersections of race, ethnicity, and public discourse, particularly as they relate shifting cultural and organizational terrains. His last book, The New York Young Lords and the Struggle for Liberation (Temple University Press, 2015), is the first scholarly monograph on one of the most significant organizations of the Puerto Rican diaspora. The Young Lords (1969-1976) was a revolutionary nationalist, anti-racist, anti-sexist street political organization who advanced a thirteen-point political program featuring support for the liberation of all Puerto Ricans (on the island and in the U.S.), the broader liberation of all "Third World people," equality for women, US demilitarization, leftist political education, socialist redistribution, community control, and other programs as they fit into their platform and ecumenical ideology. As part of the broader Young Lords project, he edited The Young Lords: A Reader (New York University Press, 2010), which was a well reviewed critical edition of primary source documents produced originally by the organization. His scholarship has also appeared in numerous journals, edited books, and in various public forums. Currently, Dr. Wanzer-Serrano is conducting critical interpretive research related to the discourse of emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions as co-PI of the EVOLVE HSIs study. He is also starting work as PI of RESI's Anti-DEI Legislation Impact Study (ADLIS), examining the effect of recent legislative debates on faculty at HSIs across the country. Most recently, he edited a forum in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, for which he penned the introduction that argues rhetorical studies is fundamentally racist and needs some substantive antiracist attention. "Rhetoric's Rac(e/ist) Problems" is among top 3 most viewed/downloaded articles in the history of the journal. Dr. Wanzer-Serrano teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in rhetoric, critical race studies, Latinx studies, social movement, and more.
Courses Taught
COMM 203: Public Speaking
COMM 301: Rhetoric of Western Thought
COMM 431: Rhetoric of Social Movements
COMM 653, Rhetoric & Public Culture || Topic: Race/Racism & Public Culture
COMM 658, Seminar in Communication & Culture || Topic: Decolonaility
Dr. Howard B. Kaplan was a Regents Professor, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the Mary Thomas Marshall Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He received his PhD from New York University in 1958 and devoted his career to the study of social psychology, deviant behavior, social disorganization, and mental health.
He was internationally known and regarded as an expert in the area of deviance, social psychology and especially medical sociology. His reputation is demonstrated by his award of the American Sociological Association's Leo G. Reeder Award for a career of distinguished contributions to medical sociology, the highest award that can be given in the area. This award honored his more than 50 years of research that made an indelible impact on the field of medical sociology as well as deviant behavior and social psychology.
Dr. Kaplan joined the Texas A&M Sociology Department in 1988 (coming from the Baylor School of Medicine in Houston) and established the Laboratory for Studies of Social Deviance at that time. In addition to directing a myriad of ongoing grants and associated studies, and mentoring graduate students, he regularly taught graduate seminars on social psychology and social deviance.
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- Professor of Sociology at Texas a & M University
Dr. Mark A. Fossett, Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University, died suddenly in Houston, Texas, in the early morning of June 21, 2023. He was 69 years old. Mark was born on December 17, 1953, in Aransas Pass, Texas. As a young child Mark and his parents and his two younger siblings lived for short periods of time in Texas, Montana, California, Arkansas, Indiana, Minnesota, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee as they followed the construction project job demands of their father. In 1964 the Fossett family settled in Ingleside, Texas where Mark and his siblings finished their grammar school years and then progressed through high school.
Mark received all three of his college degrees from The University of Texas at Austin: BA degree in sociology in 1976, MA degree in sociology in 1980, and PhD degree in sociology in 1983.
He began his academic career in 1983 as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Louisiana State University. In 1986 he moved to the University of Texas at Austin where he served for three years as a Research Scientist and Director of Data Services at the UT Population Research Center. In 1989 he moved to College Station, Texas where he joined the faculty of the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University. Mark remained on the TAMU faculty for 34 years until his untimely death in June of 2023.
While at Texas A&M, Mark served the Department of Sociology as Associate Head from 1995 to 2000, as Graduate Advisor from 2000 to 2005, and as Department Head from 2005 to 2011.
In 2010 Mark and a team of other faculty began work to establish the Texas Federal Statistical Research Data Center (TXRDC) at Texas A&M. Mark and his team worked with officials at the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation (NSF), winning an NSF grant that leveraged funding commitments of over two million dollars from the Texas A&M System, Texas A&M University, and a consortium of universities to fund the TXRDC. Mark was its Founding Director, serving from 2011 to 2020. The TXRDC provides access to restricted data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies. At the time of its creation, the TXRDC was the only such center in the central and southern regions of the United States, making it a magnet for high level researchers in a variety of fields, including demography, public health, economics, agriculture, business, and sociology. The establishment of the TXRDC at Texas A&M was the crowning jewel of Mark's numerous accomplishments in his 40-year career as a sociologist and demographer.
From 1993 to 1999, Mark and several faculty colleagues directed summer programs at Texas A&M, known as Minority Opportunities for Summer Training (MOST) and as Alliances for Minority Participation (AMP), with funding from the American Sociological Association and the Ford Foundation. Then from 2000 to 2017 Mark directed four more programs, known as Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), with funding from the National Science Foundation. The MOST and AMP and REU programs provided funds for eight- to ten-week Summer Institutes for undergraduate students that focused on inequality, stratification, race & ethnicity, and social vulnerability. They provided unprecedented opportunities for many first-generation college students and minority undergraduates to boost their research skills and learn about and even take steps toward graduate education. Every summer since the early 1990s, the programs were held in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M, each one sponsoring six to ten undergraduate students, providing them with opportunities to participate in graduate-type classes and research programs, enabling them to learn first-hand about graduate school. Many MOST and AMP and REU students later enrolled in graduate programs at Texas A&M and at many other universities. Without these programs, these undergraduates would likely have never even considered pursuing graduate degrees. Mark was the principal leader and director of these programs in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M for almost twenty-five years.
Mark's research and teaching interests included racial and ethnic segregation and inequality, urban and spatial demography, social demography, computational methods, quantitative research methods, and demographic techniques. He directed the doctoral committees of eleven graduate students, and the MA thesis committees of ten graduate students. He also co-directed or served on the committees of dozens of other graduate students.
Mark was awarded several large grants to support his research on residential segregation, including grants from the NSF and the NIH. In 2017 he published his monograph, "New Methods for Measuring and Analyzing Segregation" with Springer. This book was the result of decades of work to address serious flaws in the measurement of residential segregation and presents elegant solutions to these issues with great technical detail, reflecting his commitment to valid research of the highest quality. Mark has another book, coauthored with Amber Crowell, forthcoming with Springer entitled, "Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation Across the United States" that applies his new methods and demonstrates the importance of having valid and reliable measurement tools to address residential segregation research questions.
Mark was truly an extraordinary person, colleague, and scholar and one of the kindest human beings ever. He was dedicated to making things better, fairer, and more equitable, whether the focus was the Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, or the larger society. He selflessly devoted much of his career creating opportunities for students and colleagues. In particular, he spent an enormous amount of time with his students. He wanted them to learn, understand, and be the strongest social scientists possible by following the science and using the most rigorous methods and approaches.
Mark was scheduled in the Fall of 2023 to transition into a phase out retirement program where he would work 1/2 time at Texas A&M for two years and then fully retire in 2025, at age 71. He always told us he wanted to retire to the Texas Coast where he grew up and spend his retirement years surfing, sampling IPAs, and following his beloved Houston Astros. Sadly, his untimely death deprived him and his family and us of these most pleasurable times.
Mark's colleagues, students, associates, and friends are all grieving at his early death. We're grieving for his wife Betsy and their children Lane and Tyler and Kate and their families, and their grandchild, Flora.
Finally, we note the establishment of the Dr. Mark Fossett Memorial Fund, which was created in June of 2023, to support Texas A&M graduate students working on projects in the Texas Research Data Center (TXRDC) or preparing a proposal to do research in the TXRDC. We know Mark would be pleased to be associated with opportunities for students to participate in the kind of research that meant so much to him.
Students will be able to apply for conference travel funds from the Dr. Mark Fossett Memorial Fund to present results from a TXRDC project, or for funds for assistance with project needs such as fees or summer support.
To contribute on-line, the Texas A&M Foundation link is https://www.txamfoundation.com/give.aspx. Select "unlisted account" from the drop-down menu on the "Select a Unit or College" line, and enter this account name and Number: 02-512709-10000 - Dr. Mark Fossett Memorial.
Dr. Stuart J. Hysom was an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Texas A&M University. He earned his doctorate in Sociology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in 2003. He began as an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University in 2004, and remained there until his death. His research areas included social psychology, small group processes, and experimental methods. Dr. Hysom was especially interested in how status, rewards, and legitimacy processes affected human interaction, and how larger social structures influenced those processes. To honor his memory, his family and friends are establishing the Stuart J. Hysom Diversity Scholarship. The scholarship will help fund a graduate student whose research/teaching interests center on issues related to diversity, inequality or social justice.
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- Administrative Coordinator
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Sales Manager
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- Department
- Professor Emeritus
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- Assistant Professor LASB 380
- Department
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- KVUE Daybreak Reporter
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- Representative Publications
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- Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
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- Department of Communication
Nancy Plankey-Videla Associate Professor, courtesy joint appointment with the School of Law Department of Sociology plankeyvidela@tamu.edu
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- Assistant Professor, Utah State University
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- Associate Professor LASB 311L
Holly Foster Chancellor EDGES Fellow Professor LASB 379 (979) 458-2268 hfoster@tamu.edu she/her/hers
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- Psychologist Counseling & Psychological Services
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- Assistant Professor the Bush School of Government and Public Service
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- Member of the Leadership Team
- Interim Department Head
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- SVP & Partner, Behavioral Insights Lead at VOX Global
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- Cornerstone Faculty Fellow Professor Emeritus
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Associate Executive Director, KAMU - FM
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- Associate Professor LASB 341
- Department
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- McFadden Professor Distinguished Professor LASB
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- Associate Professor of Practice Department of Communication & Journalism
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- Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Communication Studies, Bemidji State University
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Director of Broadcasts at Texas a & M University
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- Department of Psychological
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- Member of the Leadership Team
- Director of Undergraduate Programs LASB 351
- Instructional Professor Director of Undergraduate Programs LASB 351
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- Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University
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- Associate Professor LASB
- Department
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- Assistant Professor, Del Mar Colleg
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Brand Marketing Specialist
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- Member of the WGST Leadership Team
- Instructional Assistant Professor
- Instructional Assistant Professor WGST Undergraduate Coordinator
- WGST Undergraduate Coordinator Instructional Assistant Professor Department
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- Department of Communication
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- Information Technology Generalist
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- Associate Professor School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Delivery Manager - Project Management
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- Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education Texas a & M School of Law
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
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- Professor of Law Texas a & M School of Law
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- Professor the University of Texas at El Paso
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- Senior Administrative Coordinator
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- Member of the Leadership Team
- Associate Department Head
- Director, Texas Federal Statistical Research Data Center ( TXRDC ) Professor Associate Department Head LASB 311
- Professor
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- Associate Professor Department of Global Languages & Cultures
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Global Azure Partner Lead
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- Administrative Coordinator
Nancy Plankey-Videla Associate Professor, courtesy joint appointment with the School of Law Department of Sociology plankeyvidela@tamu.edu
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Social Media Manager
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- Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University
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- December 2022 Research Administrator, Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Program Manager for Internal Communications
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- Department of Psychological
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- Taysha Gene Therapies Associate Director, Vendor Management & Strategy
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- Department
- Faculty Fellow Professor
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- Associate Professor
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Associate Professor, Courtesy Joint Appointment With the School of Law Department
- Director of Graduate Studies
Nancy Plankey-Videla Associate Professor, courtesy joint appointment with the School of Law Director of Graduate Studies LASB 381 (979) 845-5483 plankeyvidela@tamu.edu she/her/hers
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Strategic Partnerships Lead
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- Assistant Professor Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution
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- Professor of Practice LASB 377
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- Associate Professor Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Coordinator of Student Services
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- Professor Libraries Department
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Public Relations Specialist
Ernesto Amaral Associate Professor LASB 320 (979) 845-9706 amaral@tamu.edu he/him/his
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- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Director of Graduate Recruitment LASB 360
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- Professor Department
- Professor LASB 337
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- Associate Professor School of Nursing
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- Business Administrator
- Senior Administrative Coordinator
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- Member of the WGST Leadership Team
- Coordinator Professor Department of English
- Department of English
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- Assistant Professor Department of English
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- Associate Professor LASB 311F
- Department
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- Visiting Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
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- Department of Anthropology
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- Assistant Professor, National Chung - Cheng University in Taiwan
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- Administrative Coordinator
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- Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UMass Lowell
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- Associate Professor the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
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- Professor Texas a & M School of Law
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- Department of Communication
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- Member of the Alumni Advisory Board
- Owner
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- Member of the WGST Leadership Team
- Department
- Program Director Professor Department
- WGST Program Director
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- Member of the Leadership Team
- Director of Undergraduate Curriculum LASB 345
- Instructional Professor Director of Undergraduate Curriculum LASB 345
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- Practice Director, Race and Ethnic Studies Institute ( RESI ) LASB 339
- Professor
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- Academic Advisor
- Prospective Student Meetings
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- Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
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- Assistant Professor, East China University of Science and Technology
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- Instructional Associate Professor
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- Professor Emeritus LASB 353
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- Academic Advisor
- Textbook Coordinator, Liaison With TAMU Bookstore