Pedro Reyes, Ph.D.

Pedro Reyes is the Ashbel Smith Chair in Education Policy at The University of Texas at Austin.

He was named Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and Assessment at The University of Texas System Office of Academic Affairs effective January 15, 2003 where he deals with education policy affecting higher education in Texas. Additionally, he directs the Student Learning Assessment Project for all Academic Institutions, along with the Academic Initiatives for Academic Affairs, including the management of $50 million dollar fund to improve research capacity among academic institutions. Dr. Reyes was involved with the execution of the annual tuition and fee plan, and the annual budget presentations. He served on System Task Forces on issues (capital planning, admissions, etc.). He has provided service on boards of external education organizations (P-16 Council, Austin Partners in Education, CREATE, Texas Public Education Foundation, Ford Foundation, among others).

Pedro Reyes was Associate Dean of Graduate Studies; He currently is Professor of Education Policy and Administration at The University of Texas at Austin, where he also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Sociology. He received his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been a member of the faculty at Texas since January, 1991. He has a combined 25 years of teaching experience in public schools and higher education and won a major award for his graduate teaching.

As a social scientist, Dr. Reyes writes on the subject of the social organization of schools, particularly about the conditions fostering high academic success for children of poverty and the stratification of learning opportunities for children of color. Dr. Reyes is the author of Resiliency and Success: Migrant children in the US (2004); Lessons From High Poverty High Performance Schools: Creating Learning Communities (1999); and Teachers and Their Workplace: Commitment, Performance, and Productivity (1990). In addition, he has authored more than 85 articles, book chapters, monographs, and reviews and has presented more than 50 papers at national academic conferences. His research has appeared in such journals as Educational Administration Quarterly, The High School Journal, Journal of Educational Research, and the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. He was Editor of the Book Review Section of Educational Researcher, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and reviewer of many other scholarly journals. He has raised more than 22 million dollars in research and development grants from The Spencer Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation, the Texas Education Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Houston Endowment, Inc., The Brown Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.

Pedro Reyes has 25 years of teaching experience in university and public school settings, 17 of which have been at The University of Texas at Austin. His areas of teaching experience include graduate and doctoral courses in statistics, research methods, and education politics and policy. Students evaluate these courses using the standard forms from the Measurement and Evaluation Center. He uses student evaluations consistently as a means of course and personal improvement. Course Instructor Surveys and student comments for those classes evaluated by students during the past three years are accessible to students..

Dr. Reyes was the 30th president of the University Council for Educational Administration, which is a national consortium of 70 major research universities in the United and Canada advancing the knowledge base in educational administration. He is a Spencer Fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Education. He has served on numerous national committees to review the quality of university programs, such as the Ohio Board of Regents Review for Education Programs. He also has advised the Ford Foundation on program evaluation for the urban partnerships programs.

James D. Studer, Ph.D.

On July 1, 2007, James D. Studer joined The University of Texas System as Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. In this role, Dr. Studer is responsible for the planning, management and evaluation of programs, and the development of policies focused on student affairs, such as tuition, financial aid, enrollment management, developmental education, student success assessment, and campus life at the System level and in cooperation with the student affairs and academic affairs staffs on the University of Texas academic campuses.

Prior to coming to The University of Texas System, Dr. Studer was an administrator and faculty member at Texas State University in San Marcos Texas for over sixteen years. For fourteen years he was the Vice President for Student Affairs leading a comprehensive student affairs division on a campus of 27,000 students. As the chief student affairs officer, he was responsible for directing enrollment management efforts, student support services and student life engagement programs while addressing critical student and university issues.

He was also an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Administration for twelve years where he was the program coordinator of the College Student Affairs Master’s degree program. From August, 2005 to June, 2007, he was a full-time faculty member and for nine months in 2005, he served as Special Assistant to the President of Texas State.

Prior to coming to Texas State, Dr. Studer was the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Services and Director of Student Life at Michigan State University for eleven years. He was also an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Higher Education at Michigan State as well as the Associate Program Director of the MSU Health Promotion Program. Other professional positions Dr. Studer has held are Dean of Student Life at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio (1969-1980) and Assistant and Associate Dean of Students at The Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio (1965-1969).

Dr. Studer received the B.S. degree from The Defiance College (major-Biology), the M.A. Degree from Bowling Green State University (Counseling and Guidance) and the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University (Higher Education Administration). He also holds certificates from the Harvard University Management Development Program and the Texas Governor's Executive Development Program in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Studer is involved in a number of state, regional, and national professional organizations. Amongst his honors are the Alumni Citation for Academic Excellence from The Defiance College, the Texas State Black Student Alliance Jerome H. Supple Leadership Award and the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators Faculty Member of the Year award in 2006.

Martha Ellis, Ph.D.

Martha Ellis, Ph.D.

Martha Ellis, Ph.D.

Martha Ellis joined the UT System on July 1, 2008, as Associate Vice Chancellor for Community College Partnerships. In this role, Martha coordinates the UT System community college transfer initiatives and promotes collaboration between the 50 community college districts and UT institutions to make it easier for students to transfer and increase the number of students who transfer from community colleges to UT institutions.

Dr. Ellis is a commissioner for the Commission on Colleges for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as well as the Commission on Women in Higher Education for the American Council on Education. She recently completed her tenure as President of Region XIV of the National Junior College Athletic Association and Board member of the American Association of Community Colleges. She was president of the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, Texas Community College Association, and Hall of Honor for Phi Theta Kappa. Dr. Ellis is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Psychological Association.

Martha has served for 25 years in community colleges in Texas. Prior to coming the UT System, Ellis was president of Lee College in Baytown, Texas. During her 6 year tenure the college became an Achieving the Dream College and the only college in Texas to be selected for the Clinton Climate Initiative. The college was recognized as the 6th fastest growing mid size community college in the nation, became a Hispanic Serving Institution and increased the college endowment by 315% during these years. Martha was also president of Texas State Technical College in Waco and held various leadership positions and faculty member at Collin County Community College in Plano, Texas. She began her professional career at Eastfield College of the Dallas County Community College District.

In addition to her PhD from the University of North Texas, Ellis has a Master of Science degree from University of Texas at Dallas, and bachelor’s degree from American Christian College. She completed post graduate work at Columbia University in New York as well as an internship at the Albert Ellis Institute State University of New York.

Ellis has won numerous teaching awards, has scholarly publications, and is a presenter at national conferences on leadership development, economic development strategic partnership, and sustainability. Martha has served on various chamber, economic development and hospital boards.

Martha and her husband, Steve, live in Austin with their humane society puppy CharlieB.