ABOUT

Our Mission

The mission of UEI is to provide equity-focused and impactful research, evaluation, and training in collaboration with community-based research-practice-policy partnerships on issues that inform and influence educational and workforce-related policies, experiences, and outcomes.

 

MEET OUR TEAM

Sharon Nichols, Ph.D.

Director

Sharon L. Nichols is Professor and Interim Director of the Urban Education Institute. She also serves as Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in learning theory, motivation, development, and research methods and has authored over three dozen books, journal articles and book chapters related to youth development, motivation, and education policy. She is the coauthor of Collateral damage: How high-stakes testing corrupts America’s schools (with D. C. Berliner, Harvard Education Press, 2007). Her current work focuses on the impact of test-based accountability on teachers, their instructional practices and adolescent motivation and development.  She is the past Vice President of Division 15 of the American Psychological Association and inaugural coeditor of new Division 15 journal, Educational Psychology for Policy and Practice

sharon.nichols@utsa.edu

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Han Bum Lee, Ph.D.

Associate Director

Han Bum Lee is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interest is to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of public policy and innovative experimental programs implemented to improve human capital, productivity, and self-sufficiency. He draws on his decades of experience studying impact evaluation in various fields, including K-12 and higher education, adult job training, and international community development programs in least-developed countries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

hanbum.lee@utsa.edu

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Rosa Arzola-Hernandez

Fiscal Manager

Rosa is a Fiscal Manager with the Urban Education Institute. She supports the research team by administering and monitoring complex financial and business transactions. She is also actively involved in the community as a child advocate with various non-profit organizations.

rosa.arzola@utsa.edu

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Jasmine Victor

Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Jasmine Victor is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Urban Education Institute and conducts research using qualitative methods. She assists with and leads research from the design through the presentation of findings. Her research interests include studying and improving policies and practices that influence the development and trajectory of Black faculty, staff, and students in higher education. Jasmine earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program with an emphasis in higher education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

jasmine.victor@utsa.edu

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Alexis Glover

Alexis Herrera is a Graduate Research Assistant at UEI and assists in reviewing the literature, collecting, and analyzing data, and other research-related tasks. Alexis is a first-year master's student in UTSA's Educational Psychology program. Her goal is to become a future researcher and publisher in the psychology field.

alexis.glover@utsa.edu 

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Nickolas Goforth

Nickolas Goforth is a Graduate Research Assistant at UEI. He assists in reviewing literature, collecting and analyzing data, and other research-related tasks. Nickolas is a first-year master’s student in UTSA’s Educational Psychology program.

nickolas.goforth@utsa.edu

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Emma Tharp

Emma Tharp is a Graduate Research Assistant at UEI. She assists in reviewing literature, collecting and analyzing data, and other research-related tasks. Emma is a second-year master’s student in UTSA’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program with a focus in neurofeedback. 

emma.tharp@utsa.edu

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