A Message From Dean Dass

May 15, 2025

College of Education and Psychology Spring 2025 Newsletter

Dean's Message

Greetings colleagues, friends and supporters of the College of Education and Psychology:

It is hard to believe the spring 2025 semester has come to an end. Spring is a time of new beginnings as trees begin to turn green again and flowers begin to bloom. It is a time of excitement for us, as many of our students approach a new beginning upon graduation.

I am excited to share with you that on May 2, the College of Education and Psychology graduated 205 students. Of these, 46 are new teacher graduates from our undergraduate teacher education programs, 47 are working educational professionals who completed master’s degrees in one of our four education master’s degree programs, 49 are undergraduate psychology majors, four completed our clinical psychology master’s degree program, 10 completed our clinical mental health counseling master’s degree program, 24 completed our school counseling master’s degree program, and 25 completed the applied arts and sciences undergraduate degree, specializing in human behavior. Collectively, our academic degree programs continue to graduate high quality students ready to serve in professions that need more qualified individuals in our region, state and the nation.

While sending our graduates out to serve the communities where they choose to go, we have also been developing and strengthening our partnerships with our local and regional school districts for mutually beneficial programming. A major event we host for our regional school districts each year is the “Back to School Bash” at the beginning of the new school year. This is a convocation-style event for school teachers and other education professionals, designed to both celebrate the work these professionals do and to start off the new school year with them on a high note. The event features motivational speakers related to the field of education. For the upcoming school year, the “Back to School Bash” will be held on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, at the UT Tyler Cowan Center.

Our faculty continue to serve our students with dedication and keep contributing to their academic disciplines through highly regarded research and scholarly work. Their efforts, activities and accomplishments are recognized at the campus level, as evidenced by some of the awards they won this semester. Dr. Jennifer Watters, a faculty member in our School of Education, won the prestigious White Fellowship for Teaching Excellence Award, and Dr. Adam McGuire, a faculty member in our Department of Psychology and Counseling, won the President’s Scholarly Achievement Award. Excellence of our faculty is also recognized and rewarded via the university’s process of tenure and promotion of rank. This year, Dr. Yanira Oliveras and Dr. Gina Doepker, faculty members in our School of Education, received promotion from Associate Professor to Professor rank. Dr. Ramona Grad, a faculty member in our Department of Psychology and Counseling, received promotion from Assistant Professor rank to Associate Professor rank with tenure.

The UT Tyler University Academy, which is part of our college, continues to excel in the TEA Accountability ratings.  Each of the three academy schools, as well as the entire academy as a district, scored an “A” on the ratings released by TEA recently. Moreover, their ranking is within the top 1% of all districts statewide. District Superintendent, Dr. Jo Ann Simmons, shares more information about the University Academy in this newsletter.

I congratulate our graduating students on their success, applaud our faculty for their accomplishments and commend our University Academy for providing a very high-quality education to our students. My thanks to you all for your continued interest in and support of the life changing work we do in our college. I wish you a relaxing and rejuvenating summer.

Pradeep “Max” Dass, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Education and Psychology