UHV promotes 11 faculty members
Nearly a dozen University of Houston-Victoria faculty members recently were promoted, with seven becoming full professors and three receiving tenure.
The associate professors promoted to professors are:
- Hongyu Guo, School of Arts & Sciences
- Catherine Perz, School of Arts & Sciences
- Dmitri Sobolev, School of Arts & Sciences
- Olga Chapa, School of Business Administration
- John Kagochi, School of Business Administration
- Carol Klages, School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development
- Joann Olson, School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development
The assistant professors promoted to associate professors and receiving tenure are:
- Jang Woo Park, School of Arts & Sciences
- Karen Parsonson, School of Arts & Sciences
- Janelle Bouknight, School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development
William Harkey, with the School of Arts & Sciences, was promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer.
“Our faculty members are committed to our students and education, and I am proud of the work they have demonstrated in the pursuit of scholarly and teaching excellence,” said Chance Glenn, UHV provost and vice president for academic affairs. “We look forward to the impact their collective efforts will continue to have on our student body, our community and in their respective fields.”
Faculty members hired as assistant professors at UHV are eligible to apply for tenure and promotion to associate professor after six years. Associate professors may be considered for promotion to professor after five years, although distinguished achievements can warrant earlier consideration.
The promotion review process, which takes nearly a year to complete, begins with evaluations by each school’s dean. Their recommendations are sent to the university’s Promotion and Tenure Committee for evaluation. The committee’s recommendation goes to the provost, and his recommendations go up the chain to the university president, UH System chancellor and UH System Board of Regents.
Guo teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science and digital gaming and simulation. His research focuses on computer graphics, computer vision and machine learning. He has authored publications in journals, conferences and books. His book “Modern Mathematics and Applications in Computer Graphics and Vision” has been ranked No. 4 on BookAuthority’s Best Computer Graphics Mathematics Books of All Time. He has been on the editorial board of professional journals, program committees of international conferences and grant panels for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
Perz teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including courses in abnormal psychology, psychotherapy methods and human sexuality. She is a licensed psychologist who trained at centers that include the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital in California, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Her research interests include behavioral medicine/health psychology, mindfulness and methods of behavior change.
Sobolev teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, including general microbiology, environmental microbiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, general biology and graduate biochemistry. His research focuses mostly on nutrient biogeochemistry/transport by rivers and biological water pollution. His research has been published in the Journal of Coastal Conservation and the Texas Journal of Science. He is a member of Phi Kapp Phi, Texas Academy of Sciences, UHV Safety and Risk Advisory Committee and UHV Institutional Compliance Committee.
Chapa teaches undergraduate and graduate management courses. Her most recent research topics include diversity and inclusion in the organization and neurological-anxiety biofeedback-related studies. She has published 15 articles in various peer-reviewed journal outlets, including the Human Resource Management Journal and the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and 24 conference proceedings, including the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business Conferences. She belongs to various organizations that include the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, the Academy of Management and The PhD Project. She also is part of the U.S. Editorial Board for the International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Kagochi teaches undergraduate business statistics courses and economic development graduate courses. His research is in the field of development economics and includes financial development, trade and the role of domestic institutions on growth. Kagochi has published articles in several academic journals, including Energy Economics, Journal of Developing Areas, Renewable & Sustainable Energy, Economics and Finance, Journal of Economic Studies and Review of Development Finance. He is a member of the Southern Economics Association and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. In 2021, he received the Partnership Professor Award from the UHV School of Business Administration.
Klages teaches undergraduate and graduate education courses, including courses focused on literacy, curriculum and instruction, and social studies. She is a dyslexia specialist and is a certified dyslexia therapist. Her research interests include virtual learning. Some of her published works include “Linking science-based research with a structured literacy program to teach students with dyslexia to read” in Reading Improvement. In 2020, she presented her work, “A Reading Program Based on the Science of Reading: Can a Multisensory, Systematic, Direct Approach Work?” at the International Conference for Advancement of Education in Oxford, England. In 2016, she helped form the Spread the Word about Literacy event to encourage the advancement of literacy in the Victoria region and co-hosted events where children could read to dogs from Adopt-A-Pet. In 2017, she helped open the UHV Reading Center to help UHV students learn various reading strategies, regardless of their major or year in school, to get more out of their college textbooks and materials. She also has hosted community conferences and symposiums at the university about using technology in classrooms
Olson teaches graduate education courses, including educational leadership, higher education history and college teaching. She also is the associate provost for research and dean of graduate studies. Her research interests include first-generation college students – specifically after they graduate from college – and various workplace learning research, such as how people learn to do their jobs. She has published and co-authored many peer-reviewed journal articles, including “An overwhelming cloud of inertia” in Online Learning and “Female first-generation college students: A review of challenges and successes” in the Journal of Global Education and Research. She has co-authored two books, including one in 2019 titled “Unfinished Business: Compelling Stories of Adult Student Persistence” through Information Age Publishing. She has presented her work at several conferences, including in March at the 45th annual Adult and Higher Education Alliance Conference. During the 200-2021 academic year, she served on the UHV Faculty Senate Executive Committee and chaired the Graduate Programs Committee. She has been a member of the Adult Higher Educational Alliance since 2009 and is the book series editor for the alliance.
Park teaches both undergraduate and graduate mathematics courses. His research focuses on discrete math and algebra. His work has been published in the Korean Journal of Mathematics and the Hacettepe Journal of Mathematics. He has co-authored papers in the International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation about the variations of the Josephus problem and the relation between diagnostic exam scores and final grades in first-year math courses. He is the second author of the book “Mathemagics: A Magical Journey Through Advanced Mathematics,” published through World Scientific. In 2019, he served as chair of the UHV Undergraduate Affairs Committee, and since 2017, he has been a member of the UHV Core Curriculum Committee. He also recently served as a senator representing the School of Arts and Sciences on the UHV Faculty Senate. He was the advisor for the UHV Math and Science Club and in 2016 received the UHV Advisor of the Year award.
Parsonson teaches both graduate and undergraduate psychology courses. She has several research interests, including international psychology ethics codes, cross-cultural forensic research examining disparities in sentencing and incarceration for Indigenous people around the world, and research on celibate pedophiles and attitudes toward them. One of her most recent peer-reviewed journal articles, “Is Teaching International Ethics Codes Important for Psychology Graduate Students?,” was published in 2020 in Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry as a follow-up to a previous article published in the journal. She also serves as a reviewer for a number of forensic psychology journals. She recently published the book “International Psychology Ethics: Codes and Commentary from Around the World” and has presented her work at state and national conferences, including in May 2021 at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.
Bouknight teaches undergraduate education courses, including those about introductory literacy assessment. She serves as the student teaching coordinator for the UHV instructional site in Katy and is the edTPA coordinator for the education school. She received the UHV Outstanding Teaching Award in 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 from her colleagues in the School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development. In 2016, she helped secure a $4,000 grant from Dollar General to support youth literacy.
Harkey teaches undergraduate English courses, including “Professional Writing” “Bible as History and Literature” “Medieval and Renaissance Civilization” and “Grammar and Rhetoric.” He has been an educator more than a decade, including as a high school English teacher. He received both his bachelor’s degree in English and Master of Arts from UHV. Some of his selected publications include “Alleviating Existential Despair: The Journey from Divinity to Mortality in Byron’s ‘Manfred’” in BlazeVOX, “Elevator: An Exposition on Identity in Present Tense” in Ishaan, and “The Poetic Work of Mourning: Tennyson’s In Memoriam as the Freudian Trauerarbeit” in Literary Yard. One of his book reviews is “Death and Dying in the Working Class, 1865-1920” in WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society. He is a faculty advisor for the UHV History and Humanities Association and a member of the Core Curriculum Committee. He also serves as a judge for the Victoria Film Festival.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
