Texas State names new directors and department chairs for 2022/2023 school year

Texas State University has started the 2022/2023 academic year with several new directors and department chairs in five colleges on the San Marcos and Round Rock Campuses.

College of Fine Arts and Communications

Todd Sullivan has been named the new director of the School of Music. Most recently, he served as director and professor of musicology in the Northern Arizona University School of Music.    

His publications and presentations reflect a variety of research interests, and he has presented papers at the College Music Society (CMS), National Association of Schools of Music, and American Musicological Society, and at the Second International Conference of the Cyprus Musicological Society.  In addition, he has remained active as an early-music performer, choral conductor, and church musician.

Sullivan holds a Ph.D. in musicology and an M.M. in music history and literature from Northwestern University and a B.M. in Music Education from Denison University. 

Sullivan has held advisory positions on the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, Flagstaff Arts Council Board of Directors, Flagstaff Arts and Business Alliance, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, Cultural Alliance of Terre Haute (founding member), National Advisory Council for the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music at Hazard Community and Technical College, Arts Fellowship Panel of the South Carolina Arts Commission, and Opera/Choral Panel of the Illinois Arts Council.

Beth A. Thomas has joined Texas State as the new director of the School of Art and Design.  She previously served at New Paltz, State University of New York,  as director of art education and chair of the departments of Art and Music.

Thomas earned her Ph.D. in art education and M.A. in Integrated Teaching and Learning from the Ohio State University and her B. A. in art education from the University of Cincinnati. 

Her research interests include the development of art teachers’ professional identities, intersections between language and art learning, and the role of arts education in advancing equity and justice in contemporary society. 

Thomas has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in qualitative research and writing methods, curriculum research and development, instructional practices, historic and contemporary approaches in art education, arts integration, art criticism, and methods for supporting engagement with and communicating about works of art. She has developed courses focusing on arts-based research, learning and teaching in art museums, and integrating the arts across the curriculum, as well as a study abroad course focused on social justice and education in rural Maya communities in Guatemala.

College of Education

Ronald D. Williams Jr., professor of Public Health, has been named chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance. He joined Texas State in 2013, having previously held faculty positions at Mississippi State University and Southeast Missouri State University.  

Williams earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama in Public Health Education and Promotion and his M.Ed. at Northwestern State University.   

His research focuses primarily on the social ecology of substance abuse prevention with specific emphasis on alcohol and energy drink risks and advocacy for tobacco-free initiatives. His research also explores other adolescent health risks including physical and sexual violence victimization. He has secured over $2.3 million in funding for community health and prevention research projects from organizations such as the Texas Department of State Health Services, U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Williams’ research has been featured in leading drug prevention journals such as Substance Use and Misuse, the American Journal on Addictions, the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

College of Applied Arts

Lt. Col. Brenton J. Ekren, Detachment Commander, is the new chair of the Department of Aerospace Studies, part of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC)  at Texas State.   

Ekren’s last assignment was to the U.S.  Southern Command as the Chief of the Joint Operations Center and Deputy Chief, Current Operations Division, where he led a team conducting daily command and control operations supporting campaign plan objectives on behalf of the Geographic Combatant Commander for five service components, three joint task forces, and 22 country teams throughout Central and South America.

He is a command pilot with more than 3,600 hours including 1,400 combat hours in the KC-10A Extender and Airbus A310 Multi-Role Tanker Transport.

AFROTC is an educational program that includes courses in history, communication, management, and political science. The mission of the AFROTC program is to educate and prepare college students to be Air Force officers.

McCoy College of Business

Haiyong Liu, is the new chair of the Department of Finance and Economics. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and began teaching at East Carolina University. In 2015, he became the department chair in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Department of Economics. His research interests focus on labor and health economics, as well as the use of econometrics to analyze the broader impact of public policies.

Liu is excited to be at the McCoy College, especially being in the Austin-to-San Antonio corridor that can provide tremendous professional opportunities for students. He is looking forward to opportunities for collaboration amongst colleagues in the McCoy College and finding the best ways to improve student success.

William C. McDowell, chair of the Department of Management, received his MBA from California State University-Dominguez Hills and a Ph.D. in business from the University of North Texas.

He held his first position at East Carolina University as an associate professor of entrepreneurship, then moved to Middle Tennessee State University as professor and chair of entrepreneurship. In 2017, McDowell became executive director at the Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and he was Turner Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Foster College of Business at Bradley University in Illinois.

McDowell is happy to be back in Texas helping the McCoy College build on the curriculum in the Department of Management and help with advancing the national reputation of Texas State as a research-focused institution.

College of Health Professions

Megan Trad is the new chair of the Radiation Therapy Program. Trad began her academic career at Texas State University in 2009, after serving as a radiation therapist and clinical supervisor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received her M.S. in Radiologic Science from Midwestern State University and her Ph.D. in Adult, Community, and Professional Education in 2012 from Texas State.

Her doctoral work focused on the use of engaged scholarship as a teaching methodology to better equip radiation therapists to enter the professional workforce.  She has published extensively on the topic of engaged scholarship and other innovative teaching methodologies, as well as identifying deficits in learning among university-aged students about cancer prevention, detection, and screening.  She was recognized as an Alpha Chi Favorite Professor in 2021. 

Trad was the recipient of the 2017 Presidential Distinction Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity from College of Health Professions and the 2016 Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Health Professions.