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Blake Allan, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Co-Director, Counseling Psychology
Search Committee, Counseling and School Psychology
Research/Teaching Interests: My main research focus is on the quality of work, encompassing constructs such as
underemployment, precarious work, decent work and working poverty. Another focus is
on understanding meaningful work, particularly how helping others contributes to meaningful
work and how structural factors affect people's access to it.
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Sam Brower, Ed.D.
Clinical Professor, Social Studies Education
Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Research/Teaching Interests: My work is situated at the intersection of critical pedagogy, social studies education
and teaching for justice. I attempt to focus on how social studies educators can utilize
transformative pedagogical practices to support student empowerment and deconstruct
the traditional, hegemonic narratives and practices found in social studies classrooms.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Houston is a city unlike any other. It’s the fourth largest city in the U.S., but
somehow still maintains a small-town feel. Having lived here for the past 20 years,
I have found it to be a crossroads of diversity, culture and people that offers a
multitude of opportunities to engage in impactful work in advancing equity in education.
Moreover, the College of Education’s mission and vision at UH embodies this work,
and leadership continuously supports faculty in this work.
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Chakema Carmack, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Health
Research/Teaching Interests: My primary program of research is STI/HIV prevention among African American and LGB
young adults and cervical cancer prevention among African American and Hispanic females.
Particularly, I am interested in the social and built environment factors that impede
or promote risk-related sexual behavior and HPV prevention behaviors. I direct the
Social Sciences in Young Adult Risk Behavior Lab.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I enjoy the student diversity and beauty of the UH campus. I’ve lived many places
before settling on Houston, and I enjoy that there are pockets of Houston MSA that
remind me of all the other places I’ve lived — making the diversity of the people,
the landscape and the food the primary reasons I enjoy Houston. |
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Theresa Fedor Amador, Ph.D.
Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director, Health
Research/Teaching Interests: My main motivation for a career in academia has been to bring eye opening learning
experiences to students, while also strengthening the tools they have to discover,
learn and produce independently. I strive to create a challenging and rewarding learning
environment to students in my classroom, through a focus on expanding their horizons
by exposing them to, and deepening their understanding of, complex issues that we
face in our communities and our broader social world. As a faculty member in the health
program, I do this through the lens of population health with a focus on health inequalities.
My past research has focused on population health topics related to sexual and reproductive
health. .
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? The diversity of the UH community and of Houston in general is wonderful and helps
foster rich classroom discussions about diversity and inequality, among many other
things. I also really love the positive and encouraging work environment in the PHLS
department and the wonderful colleagues that make it possible. In terms of the city
of Houston, it’s great to be in such a large, connected and diverse city. Also, even
though summers are extremely intense, we essentially have no winter. It’s fun to be
able to have things like outdoor Thanksgiving garden parties! |
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Robert Hausmann, Ed.D.
Clinical Professor and Specialization Lead, Health Science Education
Research/Teaching Interests: My research is focused on learning and innovation in domestic and global health systems.
Using quantitative, qualitative and network analyses, I have studied how public-private
partnerships can be used to reduce health equity gaps faced by those living in extreme
poverty. |
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Laveria Hutchison, Ed.D.
Associate Professor and Specialization Lead, Literacy Education
Teaching/Research Interests: My scholarship intends to inform K-12 teachers, teacher candidates and parents to
assist students with the acquisition and use of literacy strategies to demonstrate
learning through print, voice and screen that connects to students’ cultural identities.
Another area of interest is situated in STEM educational research to provide undergraduate
and graduate students, along with career-changers, opportunities to become teachers
in high-needs schools.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I enjoy working at UH because the students are exceptional, and they want to provide
equitable education in classroom settings and in other workforce areas. Also, my colleagues
are wonderful and full of innovative ideas they are always willing to share. Living
in Houston provides me with many activities (sports, arts and outdoor exercise). Houston
has a Medical Center that is internationally-known. And, I love the short winter season! |
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Milena Keller-Margulis, Ph.D.
Professor, School Psychology
Chair, Department of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences
Research/Teaching Interests: My research agenda is focused on the measurement of academic skills for all students
in efficient and accurate ways that facilitate identification of those in need of
supportive intervention. My early work as a school psychologist in public schools
highlighted the gaps in research regarding the technical adequacy of academic skills
screening measures used in practice and the absence of measures for certain purposes.
The main focus of my research team, Promoting Academic Skills Success (PASS), is on
curriculum-based measurement (CBM), an approach that involves collecting brief samples
of basic academic skills in reading, math and writing, and is used as a screening
tool to identify children at-risk for poor academic performance and to monitor progress
in response to instruction or intervention. My teaching is also focused on measurement
as well as the practical field training experiences of students.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Houston is a wonderful place to both work and live, as well as a wonderful place to
train future school psychologists. The city is home to so many people from diverse
backgrounds that results in a rich and exciting community in which to live and learn.
UH reflects the diversity of the broader region and is a vibrant learning and scholarly
community. |
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Norma Olvera, Ph.D.
Professor, Health
Search Committee, Health
Research/Teaching Interests: My research interests are focused on identifying maternal, cultural and environmental
influences on pediatric obesity, body image, disordered eating behaviors, anxiety
and physical activity in Latino and African American families. Results derived from
these studies have led to the development of innovative community and family-based
obesity interventions designed to promote healthy eating, exercise and positive body
image in Latina and African American youth. My research has been published in high
impact factor journals such as Appetite, American Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Journal of Pediatric Psychology and Obesity.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Cultural diversity in people, languages, traditions, music and, of course, food. |
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Sissy Wong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Specialization Lead, Science Education
Search Committee, Science Education
Research Interests: My research is focused on the integration of language literacies and contextualized
science instruction for teachers of multilingual learners. I also study the impact
of mentoring and teacher professional development programs on science teacher knowledge,
practices, and asset-based beliefs to support effective teaching with culturally and
linguistically diverse student populations.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Houston is a vibrant city that celebrates the diversity that can be found in all areas
of the region. I have enjoyed living in a place that provides ample opportunities
to explore different cultures, foods, and entertainment in hopes to better understand
the world around us. There is something for everyone here in Houston, and I am glad
to call Houston home. |
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Jie Zhang, Ph.D.
Professor, Bilingual/ESL Education
Associate Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Search Committee, Medical Education
Research Interests: My research is focused on language and literacy development and instruction for culturally
and linguistically diverse learners and integrating language and literacy in STEM
teaching and learning for English language learners.
What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I enjoy working at UH because of the great colleagues and students. I call Houston
home because of its celebration of culture and diversity. I love to explore ethnic
food/restaurants in Houston. |
