Texas A&M University Faculty Affairs
The Faculty Aspiring Leadership Program offers strategic development of faculty across campus to sustain transformative change through individual and organizational skill building. Program Fellows are emerging leaders with the potential to impact the institution and build a portfolio of leadership experience. Fellows gain knowledge of institutional operations in specific areas and advance their leadership skills in higher education. The program is coordinated by the Office of Faculty Affairs with the generous support of the Texas A&M Association of Former Students.

The 2025-26 Fellows

Glenn A. Barnes (College of Nursing)

Fellow: Glenn A. Barnes, DNP, RN, EMT-P, ACUE, NHDP-BC, FWEM, FAWM, Clinical Associate Professor

Home Academic Unit: College of Nursing

Project: Aerospace & Extreme Environment Nursing Program - develop a new Nursing Program consisting of both undergraduate and graduate components, designed to equip nurses with specialized skills for delivering expert care in extreme and high-risk environments

Sponsoring Academic Unit: College of Nursing

Mentors:

  • Dr. Lisa Haddad, Executive Associate Dean
  • Dr. Matthew Sorenson, Associate Dean for Graduate Nursing Education
Dae Seok Chai (College of Education & Human Development)

Fellow: Dae Seok Chai, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Human Resource Development

Home Academic Unit: Department of Educational Administration & Human Resource Development

Project: My Grad Journey System Evaluation - provide leadership for the evaluation of this project and  working with an established steering committee as well as Technology Services staff serve all graduate and professional students to provide a platform for students to document their goals and activities related to their graduate journey, for faculty advisors/committees to provide timely feedback and evaluation, as well as for department/unit to gather data for reporting purposes

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Graduate & Professional School

Mentors:

  • Dr. Fuhui Tong, Associate Provost & Dean
  • Dr. Julie Harlin-Wolf, Associate Dean, Graduate & Professional Studies
Ivis García (College of Architecture)

Fellow: Ivis García, Ph.D., AICP, Associate Professor

Home Academic Unit: Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

Project: Strengthening the Undergraduate-to-Graduate Pipeline through Strategic Recruitment - enhance graduate student recruitment efforts by leveraging faculty expertise in undergraduate advising and graduate education by developing and implementing strategic initiatives to strengthen the pipeline from undergraduate to graduate education through mentorship, targeted outreach, and structured advising initiatives

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Graduate & Professional School

Mentors:

  • Dr. Shannon Walton, Assistant Dean
  • Dr. Fuhui Tong, Associate Provost & Dean

Program Collaborator:

  • Kayla Duncan, Recruitment Coordinator
Daniel W. Goldberg (College of Arts & Sciences)

Fellow: Daniel W. Goldberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geography

Home Academic Unit: Department of Geography

Project: Mapping a Future for a World-Leading Geospatially-Enabled University - develop a national model for geospatially-enabled university operations to capitalize on existing strengths and resources, while leveraging recent and emerging advances in geospatial technology and build out a true geospatially-enabled enterprise which supports the full suite of institutional goals and stakeholders in a sustainable manner

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Texas A&M University Office of the President

Mentors:

  • Mr. Peter Lange, Texas A&M Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President
Catharina M. Laporte (College of Arts & Sciences)

Fellow: Catharina M. Laporte, Ph.D., Instructional Professor

Home Academic Unit: Department of Anthropology

Project: Student Experience Project and Third-Party Learning Tools - two projects that include one that relates to Texas A&M’s engagement with the Student Experience Project and the other project works with both Technology Services and the Digital Learning group of the Center for Teaching Excellence to determine which third-party learning tools are being used officially and their associated costs

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Academic Affairs

Mentors:

  • Dr. Tim Scott, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
  • Dr. Michael Johnson, Associate Provost for Academic Enhancement
Sharon D. Matthews (College of Education & Human Development)

Fellow: Sharon D. Matthews, Ph.D., Clinical Professor & Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Programs

Home Academic Unit: Department of Teaching, Learning & Culture

Project: Developing Faculty Agency through Knowledge-Building - develop a series of faculty development workshops that focus on a variety of topics that pertain to how Texas A&M University works, e.g., how the different faculty titles correlate to assigned workload, form the basis for a digital faculty guidebook that can be updated regularly and will be an accessible resource for faculty, and work closely with a task force that will study faculty workload across the campus and provide a set of recommendations to help faculty administrators better align faculty titles and faculty workload

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Faculty Affairs

Mentors:

  • Dr. Claire Katz, Associate Provost for Faculty Advocacy
  • Dr. Heather Wilkinson, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs
Daniel A. McAdams (College of Engineering)

Fellow: Daniel A. McAdams, Ph.D., Robert H. Fletcher Professor in Mechanical Engineering

Home Academic Unit: J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering

Project: The Faculty Fellow for Strategic Partnerships - by working with relevant units at Texas A&M University to advance research development and strategic partnerships - will support the advancement of strategic initiatives, industry/community engagement, private-sector partnerships, and other efforts to enhance research funding from varied sources.

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Division of Research

Mentors:

  • Dr. Henry Fadamiro, Associate Vice President for Research, Strategic Initiatives
Emily B. Pentzer (College of Arts & Sciences)

Fellow: Emily B. Pentzer, Ph.D., Professor & Associate Dean for Research

Home Academic Unit: Department of Chemistry

Project: Internal Funding Program Formation - develop a new internal funding program complimentary to ongoing funding programs from across the University and designed to address the needs of natural sciences and mathematics, social sciences, and humanities that provides research support for faculty to pursue research excellence - supporting efforts from starting new collaborative research initiatives (e.g., seed funding) to completing ongoing projects (e.g., book completion)

Sponsoring Academic Unit: College of Arts & Sciences

Mentors:

  • Dr. Simon North, Executive Associate Dean
  • Dr. Troy Bickham, Director of the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research
Farzan Sasangohar (College of Engineering)

Fellow: Farzan Sasangohar, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Home Academic Unit: Wm Michael Barnes '64 Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering

Project: Enhancing External Awards & Recognitions - develop a systematic, data-driven approach to identifying, tracking, and support faculty nominations for external awards by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including vector databases, retrieval-augmented generation models, and ORCID-linked data mining that will create a scalable framework for increasing faculty recognition

Sponsoring Academic Unit: College of Engineering

Mentor: Dr. Jean-Francois Chamberland, Associate Dean for Faculty Success

Jony Sheynin (Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine)

Fellow: Jony Sheynin, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor

Home Academic Unit: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science

Project: Grad School Boot Camp 2.0 - develop, execute, and assess a new initiative aimed at undergraduate, graduate, and professional students as a part of the Summer Fellowship Application Writing Boot Camp, a structured series designed to equip aspiring scholars with the skills and insight necessary to craft compelling and competitive national fellowship applications including all aspects of the application process, from the identification of funding opportunities to the development of research proposals and personal statements

Sponsoring Academic Unit: Graduate & Professional School

Mentors:

  • Dr. Shannon Walton, Assistant Dean for Student Development & Success
  • Dr. Fuhui Tong, Associate Provost & Dean

Collaborator:

  • Isah Veronica D. Juranek, Student Success Coordinator

Review the 2025-26 Fellowship Projects

Faculty Aspiring Leadership Program fellows take on a wide variety of projects focused on overall improvement of the university from the differing vantage points of their sponsoring units. Review the full scope of the:

2025-26 Fellowship Project Descriptions

Program Outcomes

Competencies Faculty Aspiring Leadership Program fellows will developed during the program include:

  • Development of leadership skills through a process of discovery and reflection
  • Improvement of time management skills
  • Learn to respond to different perspectives to meet shared goals
  • Apply leadership concepts and skills in practice
  • Cultivate networks of collaborators, mentors, and mentees
  • Learn to articulate vision and create change as a leader and collaborator

Eligibility

The Faculty Aspiring Leadership Program is open to all full-time faculty. Fellows will typically be advanced associate-level or early full-level faculty in tenured or academic professional track titles and must be in good standing in their home units. Fellows are selected based on their experience, interests that match with available opportunities, and the degree to which a leadership program matches their career path. Fellows are paired with a leadership role within a college/school or university office based on their interests and expertise. Fellows complete a project that can be successfully implemented across the fellowship period, which occurs across fall and spring of a given academic year.

Expectations

  • Fellows contribute 25% effort across the fellowship period and should expect approximately 10 hours per week embedded in the host unit focused on their project
    • Faculty Affairs will provide $10,000 to the faculty member’s home unit for teaching replacement costs for one course and $5,000 available to the faculty member to attend a workshop, training, or conference-related leadership skill development
  • Fellows attend one external professional development program/conference (in person or virtually) on leadership topics, engage in campus tours and activities, benefit from executive coaching sessions, and extend their network across and beyond the university
  • Fellows engage in a required monthly cohort-based leadership academy - having completed any related readings - along with fellows from other leadership development programs facilitated by Faculty Affairs, scheduled for 12-2 on the first Tuesday of each month; Please block this time on your schedule and discuss teaching commitments with your department head
  • Fellows attend a fall celebratory luncheon for leadership fellows
  • Fellows engage in self-assessment of leadership skills and strengths
  • Fellows will report the outcomes from both the project and the overall Aspiring Fellow experience
  • Following completion of the fellowship program, fellows will engage with one event annually for networking and mentoring among Aspiring program cohorts

Meet the Previous Fellows

2024-25 Fellows Cohort

Click here to get to know our second cohort of fellows and the 'why' behind their pursuits of leadership.

2023-24 Fellows Cohort

Click here to get to know our inaugural cohort of fellows and their projects.