College of Health Professions Training Program Speakers
Dr. Arzu Ari
Dr. Arzu Ari is a physical therapist and a respiratory therapist with 30 years of experience as a manager, clinician, educator, and researcher. She is the Associate Dean for Research at the College of Health Professions and teaches in the Department of Respiratory Care at Texas State University.
Dr. Ari’s primary area of research is aerosol medicine. Her research interest has manifested in 89 peerreviewed articles, 87 conference proceedings, 17 book chapters, two clinical practice guidelines, and two books. She gave more than 339 presentations at conferences worldwide and received 15 external grants from various institutions. Dr. Ari has been recognized as an outstanding faculty and received 34 prestigious awards for her accomplishments in research and education. Her work received the prestigious Monaghan/Trudell Award for Aerosol Technique Development three times in the past ten years. She received the Mitchell Baran Achievement Award for Clinical Excellence in Aerosol and Airway Clearance Therapies and the Hector Leon Garza Achievement Award for Excellence in International Respiratory Care.
Dr. Ari is the Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal for Respiratory Care and the Guest Editor of Pharmaceutics. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Aerosol Medicine. As a strong advocate for the development of the respiratory care profession worldwide, Dr. Ari has served as the Governor of Turkey at the International Respiratory Care Council for 27 years and promotes the profession of respiratory care around the world. Dr. Ari has also served on numerous committees of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Respiratory Care Foundation, International Society for Aerosols in Medicine, American Association for Respiratory Care, COPD Foundation, and the Turkish Respiratory Society. Dr. Ari is also the Director of the International Education Recognition System.
Dr. Rodney Rohde
Dr. Rodney Rohde received his Bachelor of Science (microbiology) and Masters (Biology, emphasis in virology) degrees from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University). Dr. Rohde received his Ph.D. in Education in 2010 (Adult Professional Community Education) with a focus on Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Dr. Rohde is the Program Chair for the MLS Program and holds the rank of Professor in the College of Health Professions. He also serves as Associate Director for the Texas State University Translational Health Research Center. Dr. Rohde is also a clinical assistant professor (joint appointment) at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Laboratory Sciences & Primary Care, Clinical Laboratory Science Program. Additionally, Dr. Rohde continues to enjoy being an adjunct associate professor of biology in the nursing program for Austin Community College. He holds certifications as a Specialist in Virology, Specialist in Microbiology, and Molecular Biologist from the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
Rodney spent a decade as a public health microbiologist and molecular epidemiologist with the Texas Department of State Health Services Bureau of Laboratories and Zoonosis Control Division prior to his academic career. His research interests are very diverse but focus on adult education and public health microbiology, specifically with respect to rabies virology, oral rabies wildlife vaccination, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and molecular diagnostics/biotechnology. He has published numerous articles and has received a variety of grant support for his research.
Dr. Natalie Ceballo
Dr. Ceballos is a first-generation college graduate raised in rural Oklahoma. She earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a B.A. in Chemistry from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1998. In 2003 she completed a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, where her dissertation was funded by an Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Following a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Ceballos joined the Department of Psychology at Texas State University in 2006. She began as a non-tenure line faculty member, then joined the tenure track as an Assistant Professor in 2007. She earned early tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Professor in 2017.
Dr. Ceballos’ research focuses on disentangling the contributions of common factors that may accompany or predate the development of addictive behaviors. Much of her work has examined neurophysiological indices of addiction-related cue reactivity in college drinkers, as well as the influence of factors such as stress and acculturation on the use of alcohol and other drugs. She has published in multiple outlets including Addictive Behaviors, Biological Psychology, the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, and Pharmacology, Biochemistry, & Behavior. Dr. Ceballos’ research program has been funded by external grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism Consortium, and Humanities Texas.
Dr. Ceballos is a twenty-year member of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) and most recently served as a Co-Chair of RSA’s Government Affairs and Advocacy Committee. She has held numerous editorial positions with scholarly journals, including her current role as Assistant Field Editor for the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. At Texas State, Dr. Ceballos served as a Faculty Senator for three years, including terms as Secretary and Vice Chair, and chaired Texas State’s Non-tenure Line Faculty Committee from 2019-2020. She served as Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology from 2014-2016 and again from 2020-2021. In 2020, Dr. Ceballos was selected as a Fellow of the Texas Academic Leadership Academy.
Dr. Maria Resendiz
Dr. Resendiz earned her Ph.D.at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She has worked with bilingual children and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in school, rehabilitation, and early childhood settings. Her research interests include how children learn language, specifically the role of children’s experience with English in learning English grammar. She has co-authored publications on language learning within the context of narratives with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and has presented at national conferences.
Dr. Shetay Ashford-Hanserd
Dr. Ashford-Hanserd is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Organization, Workforce, and Leadership Studies at Texas State University. Prior to joining Texas State, Dr. Ashford-Hanserd worked for 13 years in the high technology (i.e., high tech) industry as a Technical Trainer, Consultant, and Global Training Program Manager with Fortune 500 multinational corporations such as General Electric, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Dell Computers. Additionally, she gained experience as a continuing education and university instructor and a project manager of a longitudinal, mixed-methods research study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Ashford-Hanserd's research agenda primarily focuses on broadening participation of women of color and historically underrepresented minorities in the U.S. P-20 (preschool, K-12, undergraduate, graduate) STEM (science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, mathematics) and Computing (STEM+C) workforce ecosystem. By integrating research into teaching and service, Dr. Ashford-Hanserd's research agenda is divided into three distinct, yet interrelated, research domains to inform students, community partners, and economic development or workforce stakeholders of evidence-based success factors and interventions.
1. Cultural, community, and historical contexts.
2. Student success factors and persistence.
3. Culturally-responsive pedagogy, interventions, and evaluation.
Ms. Evy Gonzales
Mrs. Evy Gonzales is the Director of Strategic Research Initiatives in TXST’s Division of Research, Office of Research Development. Evy supports the research enterprise by providing strategic guidance and support to researchers seeking to develop competitive proposals for external funding; leading the development of large-scale, collaborative proposals; engaging with national, state, and local partners to identify and promote funding opportunities and partnerships aligned with the university’s strategic priorities; and conducting workshops on finding funding, grant writing, and strategic positioning. Evy has been with the Division of Research for 21 years, holding various positions in pre and post award administration, compliance, and research development.
Dr. Monica Hughes
Monica Hughes received her Advanced Public Health Nursing Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Rush University in Chicago, MSN in Nursing Education with a graduate certificate in Nursing Systems Management from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a BSN from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Hughes has worked in many facets of public health and nursing leadership over a 30-year nursing career, most recently as the Director of Public Health Nursing for the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Director of Education for a faith and health nonprofit. Dr. Hughes' practice focus began in obstetrics and newborn nursing, and she has since worked in public health and nursing workforce development, health policy, and family and community health services in conjunction with governmental and non-governmental agencies, faith-based entities, and home maternal child health services. She has worked as a consultant on national public health workforce assessment and as an educator of nurses, nursing students, and community health workers.
Dr. Hughes is a board-certified Nurse Executive and a Certified Nurse Educator. She is also a certified instructor of Community Health Workers. Dr. Hughes is a member of the Association of Public Health Nurses and the American Public Health Association, as well as the Association of Community Health Nurse Educators, American Nurses Association, the Texas Nurses Association, and the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Dr. Hughes is the recipient of a prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Nurse Leader designation, along with a fellowship and leadership training with the Centers for Creative Leadership and the Texas Team Campaign for Action. She is a Community Health Worker/Promotora Advisory Committee member for the Texas Department of State Health Services, a Johnson and Johnson Promise of Nursing’s Future Texas Regional Faculty Fellowship recipient and has received many awards and honors.
Dr. Sonsoles de Lacalle
Dr. Sonsoles de Lacalle obtained her M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Navarra (Spain). In 1990 she moved to the US with a Fulbright Fellowship to train with Prof. Clif B. Saper in the Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her academic experience includes teaching and research in a medical setting (at Pritzker School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel/Deaconess Medical Center, and at Ohio University’s College of Medicine) and in predominantly undergraduate institutions (CSU Los Angeles, C. R. Drew University and currently at CSU Channel Islands).
Dr. de Lacalle has mentored undergraduate, graduate and medical school students, directed a training program in mental health research for undergraduates, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has served as Program Director in a NIH center grant. Her research has been supported by NIH, the William F. Milton Foundation and the Department of Defense. Dr. de Lacalle serves on several NIH study sections and Fellowship Programs, as well as the MARC Subcommittee for the National Institute on General Medical Sciences. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and has presented many invited lectures at international symposia and universities. Dr. de Lacalle is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, AAAS, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, the Fulbright Alumni Association, and the Council for Undergraduate Research. She has also served in the Natural Sciences Advisory Committee for Los Angeles Southwest College, in the Board of Directors of Lexington College, the DO/PhD Advisory Committee for the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Graduate Council at Ohio University and as Vice-president in the Board of Directors of the Future Latino Doctors National Network, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA). She currently chairs the Department of Health Science at CSU Channel Islands.
Dr. Jennifer Speed
Jennifer Speed, Ph.D., is Assistant Vice President for Research Development at Texas State University. At Texas State, she is charged with building capacity for the research enterprise, for supporting centers and institutes, and for supporting all researchers who are developing high-quality, highly-competitive research programs. Her research has been funded by the Mellon Foundation, NEH, Fulbright, the American Historical Association, and the Spanish government. She is former Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton, and holds a Ph.D. in History from Fordham.
Dr. Damian Valles
Dr. Damian Valles is an Ingram School of Engineering Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor at Texas State University. He focuses on High-Performance Computing (HPC), Machine Learning (ML), and Embedded System implementations under the High-Performance Engineering (HiPE) research group. Dr. Valles received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at El Paso from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, focusing on Reconfigurable Processors and HPC research. Dr. Valles did a post-doc at Montana Tech as the HPC Application Scientist under the Computer Science department. He also worked as an HPC System Administrator in the Information Systems department and an adjunct position in the Computer Science department at Wake Forest University. He is currently a member of IEEE, ACM, ACM's SIGHPC, and SHPE.
Ms. Alex Smith
Alexandra Smith is a Senior Proposal Coordinator at Texas State University's Division of Research, Office of Sponsored Programs. Alex specializes in supporting faculty investigators with preparing and submitting competitive proposals to external sponsors. She offers expert guidance in budget development and ensures compliance with sponsor requirements and university policies. A leader in educational initiatives, Alex conducts budget training seminars to enhance the skills of faculty and staff. Beyond her professional commitments, she channels her creativity into designing one-of-a-kind jewelry and art pieces, reflecting her meticulous and imaginative spirit. Prior to her current role, Alex managed projects for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Clean Rivers Program.
Dr. Denise Gobert
Dr. Gobert has been practicing physical therapy for over 20 years and teaches in the Neuro/ Research track in the Doctoral Physical Therapy Program at the Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Her clinical practice and research specialize in the care of persons with neurological movement disorders resulting from CVA, vestibular-related pathologies and traumatic brain injury. She received Physical Therapy degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, and her Masters in Exercise Science and Doctorate in Kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Certified Vestibular Rehabilitation Specialist, Board Certified Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy and Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults. In addition, she is a well published researcher and has held several state and national offices including Chair of the Vestibular Special Interest Group in the Neurology Section in the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Her current research includes vestibulo-oculomotor deficits associated with acquired brain injury such as CVA and traumatic brain injuries. Her work has been well supported by several national funding sources including the American Heart Association, Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense.
Dr. Melinda Villagran
Melinda Villagran is the Executive Director of Texas State's Translational Health Research Center, leading applied health research programs with community partners to improve health and increase resilience in Texas. Dr. Villagran is also the Principal Investigator for the Community Mental Health M.A.P. (Monitoring and Assessment Program) grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Co-PI for the State of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's Accelerating Credentials grant focused on marketable skills for workforce development. With a Ph.D. in health communication, Dr. Villagran supports diverse research involving Texas State faculty, students, and community partners, working together to create healthy, equitable, resilient communities. After serving as a professor and graduate program director at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, Dr. Villagran joined the Texas State in 2012. In the last decade she has served as a professor, department chair, research center director, chair of the university's Council on Funded Research, and the PI on research and programming awarded over 10 million dollars in funding to address health issues among underserved and vulnerable populations. Dr. Villagran is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity at the professor level, and the author of two scholarly books and over 65 peer-reviewed journal articles on communication topics.