Meet the 2022-23 UTEP Provost’s Faculty Fellows
Last Updated on September 01, 2022 at 12:00 AM
Originally published September 01, 2022
By MC Staff
UTEP Marketing and Communications
The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso’s Office of the Provost has selected four outstanding faculty members to participate in the 2022-23 Provost’s Faculty Fellows program.
Fellows will work alongside academic administrators and faculty colleagues in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion; communication for student success initiatives; and community engaged scholarship.
The 2022-23 cohort of Provost’s Faculty Fellows are:
- Martine Ceberio, Ph.D., professor of computer science;
- Noell Birondo, Ph.D., professor and department chair of philosophy;
- Jesus Cisneros, Ph.D., associate professor of educational leadership and foundations;
- Adriana Domínguez, Ph.D., assistant professor of theater and dance.
“This group of faculty brings a wealth of vision and energy to the tasks at hand, and we’re looking forward to learning from their perspective,” said John Wiebe, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “The work they will do will help press forward initiatives that will serve both their faculty colleagues and our students at UTEP.”
As the Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Ceberio will work on strategic actions to institutionalize DEI through inclusive teaching practices, student-engaged and equitable learning, and community building.
“The fellowship will allow me to learn a lot as well as to put my experience and faculty viewpoint in service of UTEP’s efforts on DEI and Access,” said Ceberio, a recipient of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award and a member of The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers. “I am eager to learn a lot from the colleagues I will be working with and to serve as best as I am able to.
A UTEP faculty member since 2003, Ceberio has been an advocate for the participation of female students in STEM through the creation of the Association for Computing (ACM) at UTEP.
“I also look forward to some sort of a cohort experience with the other fellows, allowing for synergy and a greater impact of our respective initiatives through collective efforts,” Ceberio added. “Lastly, the topic of DEI, on which I will be focusing, is a complex and challenging topic, but essential one to address. I look forward to tackling it and to seeing our efforts come to fruition.”
As the Faculty Fellows for Communication for Student Success Initiatives, Birondo and Cisneros will lead efforts to promote inclusion of the Edge asset-based philosophy and integrated and applied learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Specifically, they will develop an implementation plan for assessing desired learning outcomes for Edge-related experiences.
Birondo has been a UTEP faculty member since 2021. He was recently recognized with a Career Enhancement Award by the UTEP College of Liberal Arts for his proposal on “Intellectual Humility.” His contributions as a faculty fellow will build on his last three years of work on the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Inclusiveness in the Profession (APA). His book titled, “The Moral Psychology of Hate” was published in 2022.
“The work as a Faculty Fellow will build on my experience as someone whose scholarship in philosophy focuses on the moral and intellectual virtues—for instance, the moral virtues of honesty, courage, and self-control, and the intellectual virtues of curiosity, humility, and open-mindedness,” said Birondo, the recipient of the APA's 2019 Essay Prize on Latin American Thought.
“This focus on the virtues aligns with my own approach to teaching and with the asset-based and applied learning pedagogy promoted by UTEP Edge,” Birondo added. “So I expect to learn a lot about how we, as a campus community, can foster these virtues in the specific students we get to serve here at UTEP. Philosophy in action.”
Cisneros was appointed director of the Educational Leadership and Administration Ed.D. program in 2021. He is a member of the UTEP Hispanic Servingness Research Council, the Provost’s Council for Community Engagement, and advisor for the Higher Education Student Association.
“My charge is to help shape and broaden the reach of the UTEP Edge framework by incorporating its asset-based philosophy into academic departments,” said Cisneros, who has been at UTEP since 2017. “Specifically, I will be supporting the advancement of high-impact practices to enhance students’ personal and professional skills. The goal is to help transform students’ education into meaningful experiences. And, along the way, I will be supporting the data collection and evaluation process of the UTEP Edge.”
Domínguez, the Faculty Fellow for Community-engaged Scholarship will support faculty community-engaged scholarship (CES) through workshops and talks related to CES competencies.
“Community-engaged work is at the core of what I do, and I am thrilled to further connect engagement and scholarship,” said Domínguez, who joined the UTEP Department of Theatre and Dance in 2005. Since then, she has served as director of audience development, clinical professor of theatre, and theatre director.
Domínguez has received numerous honors throughout her career, including Educator of the Year from the Texas Educational Theatre Association. Most recently, she received the Directors’ Choice Award for Cenicienta at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
“UTEP has so much to offer and there are some amazing opportunities to partner with our community,” Domínguez said. “I expect to learn, grow, and gain additional insight about integrating engagement with our community into research and teaching activities. Further, I am committed to increasing the visibility of CES and promoting the validity of such important work.”
The incoming cohort will work alongside Ann Gates, senior vice provost for faculty affairs; Virginia Fraire, vice provost for student success and strategic initiatives; and Azuri Gonzalez, director of the Center for Community Engagement.
They will succeed 2021-22 Provost’s Faculty Fellows: Ann Horak, Ph.D., associate professor of practice; Richard Pineda, Ph.D., former associate professor of communication; Calvin Stewart, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Jeremy Slack, Ph.D., assistant professor of geography.
“We are grateful to our fellows whose terms are coming to a close,” Wiebe said. “They have made strong contributions to programs that needed a faculty voice.”
To learn more about the Provost’s Faculty Fellows program and other faculty professional development opportunities, click here.
