Fellows Directory

Kristin Patterson

Kristin Patterson is the Fourth-Year Fellow Representative on the 2021 Provost's Teaching Fellows Steering Committee.

Mary Poteet

Mary Poteet is an alumnus Provost Teaching Fellow from the Jackson School of Geosciences. Her research focuses on how human stressors alter complex ecosystem function. She currently focuses on the response of aquatic ecosystems to urbanization with specific focus on stream metabolic regimes. Her active teaching style includes teaching through research in the Freshman Research Initiative, field courses in EVS and Geology, and engaging non-science majors in the use of scientific knowledge by societies.

Robert Prentice

Adam Rabinowitz

I'm an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics. My research focuses on the archaeology of Greek colonization, culture-contact, and ancient food and drink, and I have an active field project at the ancient site of Histria in Romania, near the Danube delta. In my teaching, I try to find ways to engage students with primary sources and involve them in research inside and outside the classroom as part of the learning process. I am particularly interested in digital tools and platforms that allow students in the Humanities to carry out public-facing research projects.

Shelly Rodriguez

Shelly Rodriguez is a Professor of Practice and instructor for the UTeach program in The College of Natural Sciences. She also directs UTeach Maker, a micro-credentialing program that helps preservice teachers bring innovative, project-based maker practices into their STEM classrooms. As a PTF, she is passionate about improving the career experiences of professional faculty at UT Austin.

Diane Schallert 

Julie Schell

Julie Schell is the Assistant Dean of Instructional Continuity and Innovation in the College of Fine Arts. She is also an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Design and Program in Program in Higher Education Leadership. Julie is an expert in teaching and learning and has taught courses on higher education pedagogy, design pedagogy, design thinking, and technology and innovation in higher education for more than a decade. 

Michael Scott

Carolyn Seepersad

Project Title: Freshman Introduction to Research in Engineering (FIRE) 

Stephanie Seidel Holmsten

Stephanie Seidel Holmsten is an associate professor of instruction in the College of Liberal Arts where she teaches core courses in the International Relations and Global Studies program, as well as Gender and Politics in the Government Department. Her teaching methods include global virtual exchange and team-based learning. She is Chair of the Provost Teaching Fellows, co-Director of the Brumley Next Generation Scholars Program, and Director of the Global Virtual Exchange faculty learning community. Her research explores minority women's election around the world.

Ruth Shear

Ruth Shear is a Professor of Practice in the Chemistry Department, and a Research Educator of the Urban Ecosystems research stream in the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI). After a PhD in Chemical Physics from Griffith University (Australia) and postdoctoral work at Stanford and Cornell, she started as a lecturer at UT Austin in 1996. After running the physical and analytical chemistry teaching labs for 10 years, she helped create FRI in 2006. She has been teaching Research Methods in various forms ever since.

Sarah Sloan

Sarah Sloan is an Clinical Professor for Health Affairs and Clinical Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Her practice interests include social justice, mental health, and working with LGBTQIA+ communities. She worked with students at the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center from 2003-2012. Her project is about understanding Critical Race Theory and how it can be added as an additional theory in the curriculum to help social work faculty and students explore inequitable systems that marginalize people.

Cathy Stacy

Michael Starbird

Michael Starbird is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin. He has been at UT his whole career except for leaves, including to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He has received more than fifteen teaching awards including the Mathematical Association of America's 2007 national teaching award, the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor statewide award, the UT Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award, and most of the UT-wide teaching awards.

Mary Steinhardt 

Mary Steinhardt joined the Provost's Teaching Fellows program as a Senior Fellow and has contributed as a leading member of the New Faculty Symposium Committee for many years. She continues to participate in the New Faculty Symposium, Eyes on Teaching, and monthly meetings.

Gwendolyn Stovall

For the last 10+ years, Gwen Stovall has worked as a biochemist and aptamer researcher in the CNS Freshman Research Initiative, where she leads a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) to identify aptamers, understand the underlying mechanisms and parameters of aptamer selections, and investigate aptamer specificity. As an educator, Gwen is committed to student empowerment and success, and seeks to improve student outcomes by mentoring, teaching, challenging, and engaging students.

Pauline Strong

Dr. Pauline Strong is a Professor of Anthropology and served as director of the Humanities Institute and its Difficult Dialogues Program from 2009 until 2022. She is also affiliated with American Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the undergraduate Bridging Disciplines Program. Her research focuses on representations and self-representations of Indigenous people in the US, dialogic pedagogy, higher education policy, and academic freedom.

Jeremi Suri

Katie Tackett

Katie is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Special Education, where she also serves as the Undergraduate Advisor. Her PTF project is aimed at building community and communication throughout a Special Education major's time on the Forty Acres.

Nina Telang

Nina Telang is a Professor of Instruction in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and a Kilby Faculty Fellow. She is passionate about student success and well-being and has implemented student success programs in her first and second-year courses.

Sean Theriault

Project Title: COLA’s Teaching Mentor Program 

Heidi Toprac

Heidi is a Professor of Instruction in the Department of Finance and the Director of the Undergraduate Internship Program for McCombs. She is a recent recipient of The Texas Ten award, in recognition of the positive impact her teaching has had on the lives of her students. Her PTF project focused on enhancing personal financial literacy among students of all majors at UT.

Jessica Toste

Dr. Jessica Toste is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at The University of Texas at Austin. She has research affiliations with the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk and the Texas Center for Equity Promotion. Toste was the Chair of Provost’s Teaching Fellow in 2022-2023.

Clint Tuttle

Clint has seen that many students lack the tools and techniques to define their own personal path to success and lack confidence in making decisions about their futures. They seek a “safe path” rather than the one that aligns to their own passions. Every teacher at some point has taught a disengaged student who was more concerned about the grade than the learning. A student who knows why they’re in pursuit of certain knowledge can be more engaged and learn better.

David Vanden Bout

Project Title: Data Drive Course Design: Differentiation of Chemistry Concept Retention between Standard and Hybrid Courses.