UTEP Professors Named Best in Texas

March 28, 2013 | UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Dr. Gonzalez

OnlineSchoolsTexas has named five UTEP professors among the best in the state.

Associate Professor of Communication Stacey Sowards, Ph.D., and Trisha Ainsa, Ph.D., a professor of teacher education, were named to its list of the Top 25 Women Professors in Texas. Ricardo Blazquez, Virgilio Gonzalez, Ph.D., and Guillermina "Gina" Núñez-Mchiri, Ph.D. were named among the 14 Hispanic Professors Making a Huge Difference in Texas.

These honors go to post-secondary educators who have demonstrated dedication to their fields and students and have been recognized in the past year for their excellence in the classroom, on campus and/or in the community.

Sowards recently received the 2013 Distinguished Teaching Award from the Western States Communication Association. She joined the faculty at UTEP in 2004. Ainsa was awarded the 2012 University of Texas Regents Outstanding Teaching Award for tenured faculty and is interested in early childhood education and special education research.

Blazquez is the director of UTEP's Global Enterprise Projects and received the 2012 Excellence in Graduate Instruction Award from the University's College of Business.

Gonzalez and Núñez-Mchiri were 2012 recipients of the University of Texas Regents' Outstanding Teaching Awards.

Gonzalez is a senior lecturer in electrical and computer engineering whose research includes high-performance networks and optical and wireless networking and engineering education.

Nunez-Mchiri is an associate professor of sociology and anthropology who studies Mexican migration to the United States and U.S.-Mexico border urbanization and settlement processes.