Jessica Toste

Photo of professor Jessica Toste of Special Education

Associate Professor

Initiative Focus

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. She has been awarded the President's Associates Graduate Teaching Excellence Award, the College of Education's Dean's Distinguished Teaching Award, and was name one of the 2017 “Texas 10,” nominated by UT alumni as a professor who inspired them during their time on the Forty Acres. She was served on the Board of Directors for Disability Rights Texas (DRTx), including two terms as Board Chair, and also serves on the National Board of Directors of GLSEN (glsen.org).

Department
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STAMP of Success in Doctoral Education: Student Training, Advising, and Mentorship Practices

Cohort: 2018
Fellow: Jessica Toste

Success in a doctoral program can be captured by students’ adjustment to the academic community and their achievement. In recent years, growing concerns have been raised by media, policy makers, and academics about reported mental health issues amongst PhD students. Research suggests that the mental health of PhD students can be improved when there are available supports related to management of work-life balance, workload, decision-making, and leadership styles that lead to satisfactory and constructive work relations (Levecque et al., 2017).