One of UT Social Work’s very own has been named to the Texas 10 by the Texas Exes Alcalde magazine. Dr. Yolanda Padilla (BA ‘78, BSW ‘79, MS ‘80), associate dean for undergraduate programs, has joined the 2026 cohort.
Nominated by UT alumni since 2011, the Texas 10 represents world-changing faculty who made lasting impressions on their students. The 2026 class comes from 9 schools across the Forty Acres and represents a combined 194 years of teaching at the University.
Padilla, now in her 34th year on faculty, began her time at UT as a transfer student from a junior college in Brownsville, just a few blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, she returned to campus.
“Professor Padilla brings her whole self to this work — as a researcher, mentor and teacher,” said Allan Cole, dean of UT Social Work. “Her scholarship connects the economics of poverty to real outcomes for children and families to inform policy solutions that can actually change lives. Our students are better for learning from her, and so are we.”
In addition to courses in macro social work practice, she is also one of the elite professors who teaches an interdisciplinary Signature Course to a small group of first-year students — hers is simply titled “How to Change the World.” She has taught the course more than 30 times, and in January 2024, Padilla was recognized by the University for having taught a signature course the most amount of times since the inception of signature courses at UT.
“For a professor, it is the reassurance of seeing students thrive in their lives after they leave our classrooms — a rare sense of ‘looking into the future.’ This award is especially meaningful to me because it symbolically expands that sense beyond one student across many lives,” said Padilla.
This is the second consecutive year that a UT Social Work faculty has received this recognition. Dr. Sandy Magaña was selected in 2025.