UT Social Work community,
I’m pleased to announce two important leadership transitions.
Dr. Yessenia Castro will begin a new role as Associate Dean for Student Success and Well-being. In this role, she will lead school-wide efforts focused on student success, well-being, programmatic assessment, and workforce pathways.
Well-being involves both daily practice and strategic priorities, and a commitment to wellbeing helps us deliver more relevant, humane, and excellent educational experiences. Professor Castro has been a champion of our students, especially in her work in leading our doctoral program with distinction since 2021, shaping outstanding scholars who have an outsized impact both on and off the Forty Acres. I look forward to the energy and leadership she will bring to this new role.
Dr. Lauren Gulbas will take-on a new leadership role, becoming the Associate Dean for Doctoral Education. Professor Gulbas has been working closely with our faculty this past year, as Director of Faculty Affairs, and her mentorship in this role has been particularly noteworthy and is well-regarded. I know she’ll bring those same high standards and dedication to her new role in shaping doctoral education, in our school and beyond.
Please join me in congratulating Yessenia and Lauren on their new roles.
With gratitude,
Allan Cole
Dean
Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy
Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professor in Social Work
School of Social Work
Deputy for Medical Humanities and Technology
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dell Medical School