Department of Higher Education Adult Learning and Organizational Studies

Bio: Dr. Meredith S. Billings is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher Education, Adult Learning, and Organizational Studies at The University of Texas at Arlington. Her overall research agenda focuses on financial and informational barriers to college for low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized students and inequities in higher education funding across different types of higher education institutions. She is currently conducting or has conducted research projects on free college/promise programs, guaranteed tuition/fixed tuition plans, college access programs, and financial aid advising in public high schools. Dr. Billings is also interested in state governance of public higher education. She has published her research in Research in Higher Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Student Financial Aid, American Behavioral Scientist, and New Directions for Community Colleges. Her work has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. Dr. Billings spent six years working in higher education administration in the areas of institutional research, undergraduate admissions, academic advising, and civic engagement. Prior to coming to UTA, she was an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University and a Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate at the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. Dr. Billings teaches or has taught courses on K-16 education policy, K-16 education law, higher education finance, program evaluation, assessment, and statistics. She earned a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan, M.A. in higher education from the University of Maryland, and B.S. in neuroscience from William and Mary.

Bio: David Deggs serves as Assistant Dean for Strategic Partnerships and Professor of Practice in Higher Education and Adult Learning in the UTA College of Education. David has 25 years of experience in higher and adult education at the campus, state, and national levels. He previously held leadership positions at Louisiana Department of Education, GED Testing Service, Southern Methodist University, and Educate Texas. David earned his Ph.D. in Adult and Human Resource Education in the School of Leadership and Human Resource Development at Louisiana State University. He earned his M.Ed. in Adult and Continuing Education and his B.G.S. in Social Sciences at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He is a proud first-generation college graduate.

Research Interests: K-16 Earth systems education: Cory Forbes is the Associate Dean for Research and the Fenton Wayne Robnett Endowed Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington. Forbes holds a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and M.S. in Science Education from the University of Kansas and M.S. in Natural Resources and Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Michigan. His teaching and research efforts focus on STEM education in K-12 and undergraduate STEM contexts. He directs multiple externally-funded projects involving STEM curriculum development, assessment design and testing, professional development for K-12 STEM teachers, and classroom-based research on STEM teaching and learning that are based in regional, national, and international partnerships with education researchers, STEM faculty, K-12 teachers, and stakeholders. Forbes is a NARST Early Career Research Awardee and Fulbright Faculty Scholar.

Research Interests: Multi-tiered systems of support and equity, disproportionality, equity, behavioral disorders : Ambra L. Green, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Special Education within the College of Education at The University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Green is a national scholar with publications and research focused on students of color with and at-risk for disabilities, issues related to inequitable school practices experienced by students of color (i.e., disproportionality in special education and discipline practices), behavior disorders, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and teacher use of evidence-based practices. She is the Primary Investigator on a $1.1 million U.S. Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) personnel preparation grant which provides rigorous training for master’s special education and social work students to support K-12 students with disabilities and high intensity needs. Dr. Green also has experience working within the U.S. Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) and serves on the OSEP National Technical Assistance Center on PBIS Equity workgroup  Dr. Green was a special educator at the middle school level and a PBIS Coach. She holds current teacher certifications in EC-6 Generalist, 4-8 Generalist, and EC-12 Special Education in the state of Texas. 

Bio: Dr. Luis E. Pérez Cortés is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Higher Education, Adult Learning, and Organizational Studies. His research focuses on the role of technologies, particularly in how the playing, making, and modding of games impact the literacy practices and perspectives of under-represented and under-served populations. He explores how these practices enable individuals to see the world, society, and themselves as malleable and open to redesign. With over twelve years of teaching experiences across Puerto Rico and four U.S. states, he emphasizes student-centered learning environments that promote creativity, critical thinking, and real-world application. At UTA, he teaches in the Instructional and Learning Design Technology (ILDT) masters program.

Research Interests: Learning and technology: Dr. Daniel Robinson is the K-16 Mind, Brain, and Education Endowed Chair in the College of Education. He previously served as the Associate Dean of Research from 2020-2024 and Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at UTA from 2017-2020. He was also Director of the School of Education at Colorado State University from 2012-2013. As a faculty member, he has taught at Mississippi State University (1993-1997), the University of South Dakota (1997-1998), the University of Louisville (1998-1999), the University of Texas at Austin (1999-2012), and Colorado State University (2012-2015). Dan served as Editor of Educational Psychology Review from 2006-2015 and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology from 2014-2020. He has also served as an editorial board member of nine refereed international journals. Dan has published over 100 articles, books, and book chapters, presented over 100 papers at research conferences, and taught over 100 college courses. His research interests include educational technology innovations that may facilitate learning and team-based approaches to learning. He was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand and was named as one of the most published authors in educational psychology journals from 1991-2002, 2003-2008, and 2009-2014, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 2004, 2010, 2015.

Bio: Dr. Ericka Roland is an assistant professor of Higher Education in the Department of Higher Education, Adult Learning & Organizational Studies. Her research examines research issues of diversity, equity, and justice (DEJ) in U.S. postsecondary education in three areas: (1) how DEJ has shaped teaching and learning approaches, (2) how higher education hinders or facilitates leadership development, (3) how people (dis)engage with higher education institutions around issues of DEJ in organizations, practice, policies, and processes. She centers the pursuit of equity in all of her projects with a commitment to research and practice that cultivates transformative possibilities. Dr. Roland uses qualitative methodologies and critical and Black feminist theoretical approaches in her inquiries. Before entering academia, she worked as a student affairs professional in residential life and Greek life.

Bio: Dr. Jodi Tommerdahl is an Associate Professor in the department of Curriculum & Instruction. She received her undergraduate degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Minnesota, followed by a Masters Degree in European Languages at the University of London, Queen Mary and Westfield College. She carried out her doctoral studies in Linguistics and Neuroscience in Paris at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales under the direction of Professor Oswald Ducrot and at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) supervised by the Sorbonne’s President, Professor Georges Molinié. She spent three years working at the University Hospital in Poitiers, France in the Department of Neurology, directed by Dr. Roger Gil where she worked with patients with aphasia. She has been on faculty at the University of Central England (now known as Birmingham City University) and the University of Birmingham, both times in departments of Speech and Language Pathology. She currently directs UTA’s Master’s program in Mind, Brain and Education and is a productive researcher with publications in linguistics, speech and language pathology and the neuroscience of reasoning and emotion.

Bio: Dr. Yi Leaf Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. Zhang has developed a strong interest in studying college access and success, especially in the community college context. Her research focuses on community colleges as a gateway to STEM education, transfer students’ educational pathways, and international education in four-year and two-year institutions. Zhang is currently an editorial board member of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) and an associate editor of the Journal of International Students (JIS).