About Us

Meet the Honors Deans

Ted L. Estess

For the past twenty-five years, Ted L. Estess has led The Honors College, first as its director, now as its dean. He built The Honors College into a nationally recognized interdisciplinary college that provides an excellent education to 1,200 undergraduates. Estess often joins the Honors faculty in teaching. He is a recipient of the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award and holds The Honors College Jane Morin Cizik Chair. Estess earned a Ph.D. in humanities from Syracuse University. In the community, he has served as a member of the board of the C.G. Jung Center and the Holocaust Museum Houston. Estess is a leader in the National Collegiate Honors Council and is former president of the Southwest Region of the American Academy of Religion.

William F. Monroe

William F. Monroe is a professor of English and executive associate dean of The Honors College. His book Power to Hurt: The Virtues of Alienation was selected as an outstanding academic book of the year by Choice magazine for 1999 and was nominated for the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award. His other publications include the play Primary Care and articles on Willa Cather, Flannery O'Connor, T.S. Eliot, and Vladimir Nabokov. Monroe received his B.A. and M.A. in English from The University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where he studied film with Gerald Mast. Each semester, Monroe sponsors a film series complementing his courses. Themes for recent semesters have been Literature & Alienation, Literature & Medicine, and The Grotesque & The Sacred. Recently reviewed films include: The Matrix; Girl, Interrupted; Twin Falls, Idaho; Young Frankenstein; The Apostle; What's Eating Gilbert Grape; and Wild at Heart.

Stuart Long

Stuart Long joined the faculty at the University of Houston in 1974 and has served in a variety of capacities in the Cullen College of Engineering since that time, including department chair and associate dean. He concurrently serves as associate dean of undergraduate research and The Honors College, and in this role oversees the undergraduate research programs for the entire campus. His research interests are in the broad area of applied electromagnestics and more specifically in microstrip and dielectric resonator antennas. Among the programs that Dr. Long has begun to increase the numbers of engineering graduates are the GRADE Camps, which bring high school girls to campus during the summer; the RET program, which allows high school teachers to be involved in research; the REU program, which involves undergraduates in research activities; and the Redshirt Camps that aid in the retention of currently enrolled students. He has been a recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Halliburton Award of Excellence, the University's Teaching Excellence Awad and the top career award given by the College of Engineering, the Fluor Daniel Award, in 2006. Stuart Long earned his B.A. and M.E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University.

Jodie Koszegi

Jodie Koszegi's association with The Honors College began as an undergraduate in 1983. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Houston in political science, Koszegi entered the university's Law Center and earned her J.D. in 1990. For eight years, she served as The Honors College coordinator of academic services. The multifaceted position of recruiter, admissions officer, and primary academic advisor allowed her to shepherd Honors students from their first summer orientation to graduation. Koszegi is a recipient of the George Magner Award for excellence in undergraduate advising and The Honors College Distinguished Service Award. As assistant dean of The Honors College, she continues her work in undergraduate academic affairs and devotes herself to a variety of special projects, including establishing UH's new Terry Scholars chapter.