Faculty

Bio: Dr. Carla Amaro-Jiménez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). As an experienced bilingual education teacher and educator, she now works with pre- and in-service teachers as well as administrators who work with English learners and their families. Her research focuses on the intersections between teacher preparation, classroom instruction, and family involvement to identify additive practices to support English learners and Hispanic students in diverse 21st century classrooms. She also served as the Director of the Pathways to College Access and Career Readiness Program for almost a decade; Pathways included the implementation of UTA-manned GO Centers at 24 area high schools, early college experiences, and parent/community outreach.

Bio: My overall research agenda focuses on financial and informational barriers to college for low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized students and how the relationship between the state government and public higher education shapes finance and governance outcomes. I am currently conducting or have conducted research projects on free college/promise programs, guaranteed tuition/fixed tuition plans, college access programs, and financial aid advising in public high schools. I have published my research in peer-reviewed journals such as Research in Higher Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Teachers College Record, Community College Review, and Education Policy Analysis Archives. My work has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. Prior to my faculty career, I worked in higher education administration in the areas of institutional research, undergraduate admissions, academic advising, and civic engagement.

Research Interests: K-16 Earth systems education: Cory Forbes is the Associate Dean for Research and the Fenton Wayne Robnett Endowed Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington. Forbes holds a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and M.S. in Science Education from the University of Kansas and M.S. in Natural Resources and Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Michigan. His teaching and research efforts focus on STEM education in K-12 and undergraduate STEM contexts. He directs multiple externally-funded projects involving STEM curriculum development, assessment design and testing, professional development for K-12 STEM teachers, and classroom-based research on STEM teaching and learning that are based in regional, national, and international partnerships with education researchers, STEM faculty, K-12 teachers, and stakeholders. Forbes is a NARST Early Career Research Awardee and Fulbright Faculty Scholar.

Research Interests: Multi-tiered systems of support and equity, disproportionality, equity, behavioral disorders : Ambra L. Green, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Special Education within the College of Education at The University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Green is a national scholar with publications and research focused on students of color with and at-risk for disabilities, issues related to inequitable school practices experienced by students of color (i.e., disproportionality in special education and discipline practices), behavior disorders, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and teacher use of evidence-based practices. She is the Primary Investigator on a $1.1 million U.S. Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) personnel preparation grant which provides rigorous training for master’s special education and social work students to support K-12 students with disabilities and high intensity needs. Dr. Green also has experience working within the U.S. Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) and serves on the OSEP National Technical Assistance Center on PBIS Equity workgroup  Dr. Green was a special educator at the middle school level and a PBIS Coach. She holds current teacher certifications in EC-6 Generalist, 4-8 Generalist, and EC-12 Special Education in the state of Texas. 

Bio: Dr. Hoover has a PhD in STEM Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University and 17 years of classroom teaching experience in Texas science classrooms. Research interests include environmental education, STEM education, and mentoring of new teachers.

Research Interests: Teacher education, postsecondary literacies, digital literacies, and underserved student populations.

Bio: Dr. Candace Joswick is an associate professor of mathematics education and interim chair in the Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation

Bio:: Dr. Kaya is an Assistant Professor with joint appointments in the College of Education Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation and College of Science Division of Data Science. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, an M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, and an M.S. in Machine Learning Engineering. Dr. Kaya has secured over $4.7 million in research grants with colleagues and received prestigious teaching awards including the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Educator Award and ASEE Southeastern Section Outstanding New Teacher Award. His research interests span K-16 AI, computing, and engineering education, with emphasis on computational thinking and robotics. He actively volunteers with Code.org, Science Fair, and First Robotics programs, advocating for accessible STEM+CS/AI education that inspires students to engineer solutions for social causes.

Bio: Dr. Christopher Kribs is Distinguished Teaching Professor and Distinguished Research Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington, where he has held a joint appointment in Mathematics and Curriculum & Instruction since 1997. He developed and has directed UTA's graduate program in K-8 mathematics education since 2000, which has offered professional development to over 200 local K-8 teachers. His research interests in mathematical biology include modeling vector-borne diseases and zoonoses. His research interests in mathematics education include classroom discourse analysis and the learning and teaching of operations on rational numbers.

Bio:: Dr. Joel Leader is an assistant professor of practice in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of North Texas, and his B.S. in Secondary Education from the University of Kansas. He joined the UTA faculty in 2022 after serving 15 years in PK-12 education as a teacher, campus administrator, and district leader. His research explores how school and district leaders collaborate with stakeholders to design accountability systems that reflect community values and goals. Additional interests include educational policy, school law, equity-focused reform, educator preparation for social justice, and school-community relations. Dr. Leader is active in TASA, TCPEA, and serves as UTA’s Plenum Representative to the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA).

Bio:: Dr. Maricela León is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education with a STEM Specialization at the Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation of the College of Education at The University of Texas at Arlington. Her research focuses on multilingual education, particularly Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs. She is interested in researching diverse languaging practices in STEM. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from Southern Methodist University in the spring of 2025. Before her career in academia, Dr. León served as an educator, instructional coach, and language acquisition specialist in various public-school districts in North Texas.

Bio:: Jin Liu is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her research interests span children’s behavioral and emotional problems, the quality of life of children with autism, ethical decision-making in academic contexts, peer assessment in online learning, mathematics education, secondary data analysis in public health, and measurement practices (e.g., methodological studies in confirmatory factor analysis, scale development, and validation). She teaches graduate-level courses in research methods, applied statistics, and measurement.

Bio: Dr. Luis E. Pérez Cortés is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher Education, Adult Learning, and Organizational Studies. His research focuses on the role of technologies, particularly in how the playing, making, and modding of games impact the literacy practices and perspectives of under-represented and under-served populations. He explores how these practices enable individuals to see the world, society, and themselves as malleable and open to redesign. With over twelve years of teaching experiences across Puerto Rico and four U.S. states, he emphasizes student-centered learning environments that promote creativity, critical thinking, and real-world application. At UTA, he teaches in the Instructional and Learning Design Technology (ILDT) masters program.

Research Interests: Learning and technology: Dr. Daniel Robinson is the K-16 Mind, Brain, and Education Endowed Chair in the College of Education. He previously served as the Associate Dean of Research from 2020-2024 and Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UTA from 2017-2020. He was also Director of the School of Education at Colorado State University from 2012-2013. As a faculty member, he has taught at Mississippi State University (1993-1997), the University of South Dakota (1997-1998), the University of Louisville (1998-1999), the University of Texas at Austin (1999-2012), and Colorado State University (2012-2015). Dan served as Editor of Educational Psychology Review from 2006-2015 and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology from 2014-2020. He has also served as an editorial board member of nine refereed international journals. Dan has published over 100 articles, books, and book chapters, presented over 100 papers at research conferences, and taught over 100 college courses. His research interests include educational technology innovations that may facilitate learning and team-based approaches to learning. He was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand and was named as one of the most published authors in educational psychology journals from 1991-2002, 2003-2008, and 2009-2014, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 2004, 2010, 2015.

Bio: I am an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation for the Accelerated Online Principal Certification and M. Ed. programs. As an educator of 33 years, I served as a teacher for 10 years and a school principal for 16 years at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, with the most recent assignment as principal at a high school in Dallas ISD. I also served as a district level administrator for 2 years in an east Texas school district. Prior to the principalship, I served as a project manager for Site-Based Decision Making at the Region 19 Educational Service Center in El Paso.

Bio: Dr. Ericka Roland is an assistant professor of Higher Education in the Department of Higher Education, Adult Learning & Organizational Studies. Her research examines research issues of diversity, equity, and justice (DEJ) in U.S. postsecondary education in three areas: (1) how DEJ has shaped teaching and learning approaches, (2) how higher education hinders or facilitates leadership development, (3) how people (dis)engage with higher education institutions around issues of DEJ in organizations, practice, policies, and processes. She centers the pursuit of equity in all of her projects with a commitment to research and practice that cultivates transformative possibilities. Dr. Roland uses qualitative methodologies and critical and Black feminist theoretical approaches in her inquiries. Before entering academia, she worked as a student affairs professional in residential life and Greek life.

Research Interests:: Critical comparative global Indigenous, ethnic, and racial studies in higher education • Activism/social movements/social transformation • Abolition • Decoloniality • Community, kinships, and relationality within/beyond academia/higher education • Comparative international higher education • Critical human rights education • Science, technology, and society (STS) • Political economy • Critical pedagogy

Bio: Wideline Seraphin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies within the Department of Teacher and Administrator Preparation in the College of Education. Her work explores the intersections of race, gender, immigrant status, and language diversity in the literate lives of Black transnational girls. As a teacher educator, Dr. Seraphin examines socially justice teaching pedagogies. She is the co-founder of Community Narratives in Focus, a narrative inquiry and digital archive centering historically excluded families in K-12 and higher education. Dr. Seraphin has been named an Emerging Scholar by the Haitian Studies Association, earned a 2020 Curriculum Inquiry Writing Fellowship, and is a proud member of the BeyHive.

Teaching Interests: Through this service-learning experience, prospective teachers read aloud to English language learners from working poor families, and the children received a tote bag of the books read aloud at the family literacy event each semester.

Bio: Dr. Jodi Tommerdahl is an Associate Professor in the department of Curriculum & Instruction. She received her undergraduate degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Minnesota, followed by a Masters Degree in European Languages at the University of London, Queen Mary and Westfield College. She carried out her doctoral studies in Linguistics and Neuroscience in Paris at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales under the direction of Professor Oswald Ducrot and at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) supervised by the Sorbonne’s President, Professor Georges Molinié. She spent three years working at the University Hospital in Poitiers, France in the Department of Neurology, directed by Dr. Roger Gil where she worked with patients with aphasia. She has been on faculty at the University of Central England (now known as Birmingham City University) and the University of Birmingham, both times in departments of Speech and Language Pathology. She currently directs UTA’s Master’s program in Mind, Brain and Education and is a productive researcher with publications in linguistics, speech and language pathology and the neuroscience of reasoning and emotion.

Bio:: Dr. Weisberg's research sits at the intersection of teacher education and educational technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida in 2024 after spending more than a decade teaching STEM and arts-based courses at the secondary and college levels. In projects funded by NSF, IES, and Google, her work has supported inclusive computing and STEM instruction in K–12 schools. She also designs teacher professional learning experiences grounded in instructional approaches like Universal Design for Learning, and is expanding her research to co-design arts-integrated and AI-focused STEM curricula with K–12 educators and community partners.

Bio: Dr. Yi Leaf Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. Zhang has developed a strong interest in studying college access and success, especially in the community college context. Her research focuses on community colleges as a gateway to STEM education, transfer students’ educational pathways, and international education in four-year and two-year institutions. Zhang is currently an editorial board member of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) and an associate editor of the Journal of International Students (JIS).