Posted on June 12, 2023 by Justine Cantu
COEHD is proud to announce our incoming faculty and staff who will be joining our college soon.
New COEHD Staff and Administration
We are pleased to once again welcome Corey Cowart, COEHD’s new Director of Development, who many of you met for the first time at COEHD’s College-Wide Meeting in May. Corey is a native of Houston, TX, holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Houston and a Master of Music from Yale University. He began his fundraising career with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra focusing on corporate and individual giving. He then served as Vice President of Development with the Minnesota Opera. Before joining UTSA, Corey served as the Executive Director of the Amarillo Symphony and then the San Antonio Symphony. Corey and his wife Jennifer have three children and have lived in San Antonio since 2019.
COEHD also welcomes two new Student Development Specialists for Graduate Studies, Jeremy “Jay” Wells and Michelle Muenich. Both staff members started in May and also were introduced at the College-Wide Meeting.
More recently, we hired our new Assistant Dean for Fiscal Administration. Jeff Stover will be starting his position on July 5th and brings to the role rich experience and financial expertise including strategic thinking, business strategy development, financial planning, and applying financial concepts to support judgment and sound business decision-making. He has 25+ years of experience working at global organizations such as IBM, Ricoh, Dell, and UT Austin. Most recently, he served as the inaugural Chief Financial Officer at The College of the Mediterranean. In this role, he was charged with the comprehensive leadership and oversight of the financial and administrative functions of the college. He was responsible for directing financial analyses on new program initiatives and other issues having a financial impact on the college.
New Faculty Appointments
COEHD is also excited to announce four new faculty members who will be joining the departments of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the Fall:
Department of Counseling
Jennifer M. Cook, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, will be joining the UTSA COEHD Department of Counseling as an associate professor . Dr. Cook received her doctoral degree in Counselor Education (CACREP accredited), at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is a passionate multicultural counselor, educator, researcher, and supervisor who infuses advocacy throughout her work. Her research focuses on counselor multicultural development, with a specific emphasis on social class and socioeconomic status. Dr. Cook has published extensively, completed over 40 national and international peer-reviewed presentations, and is currently writing a multicultural counseling textbook. She has served individual, couple, and family clients, many from underserved populations, in private practice and clinical mental health settings, and she has supervised clinical mental health, school, and clinical rehabilitation counselors-in-training.
Donghun Lee, PhD, will be joining the UTSA COEHD Department of Counseling as an assistant professor. He currently serves as an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Oneonta and has obtained his doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of Arkansas. His primary research interests lie in the areas of professional identity and development, counselor burnout and wellness, multicultural and social justice counseling, and dispositional assessment. He is an active member of diverse counseling associations and is currently serving as an editorial board member of the Journal of Asia Pacific Counseling and International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling. Dr. Lee will be joining the UTSA COEHD Department of Counseling as an assistant professor.
Department of Educational Psychology
Mackenzie Hart, PhD, joins the Educational Psychology faculty at UTSA from the Florida State University Multidisciplinary Center where she gained advanced experience and training in youth therapy and psychological assessment. Her doctoral degree in School Psychology is from the University of South Carolina (conferment August 2023). As a graduate student, she was recognized as a Presidential Fellow, a Graduate Leader for Teaching Innovation, and with the Laura Griffin Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship. Mackenzie’s research interests center on training paraprofessional providers (e.g., youth mentors) to support or deliver brief, evidence-based youth mental health services to expand access to services in community and school settings. Her work to date has resulted in 16 peer-reviewed publications, one book chapter, and numerous professional presentations. She is very excited to embark on her professional career as a Roadrunner!
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Victoria Kim, PhD, joins as an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Prior to joining the ELPS department, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin for the Research-to-Policy Collaboration (RPC) project funded by the William T. Grant Foundation. Her research interests include examining the inequitable structures in P-20 settings, and educational programs, practices, and policies including Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) that can shape the experiences of racially and ethnically minoritized students. Dr. Kim received a B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Education at the University of California, Davis, and an Ed.M. in International Educational Development with a focus on Bilingual/Bicultural Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and Comparative Education with a specialization in Race/Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
We look forward to having such bright and promising faculty and staff join our community.
— Justine Cantu
