Our Staff
Dr. Karen Huxtable-Jester
Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning
Associate Provost
Dr. Karen Huxtable-Jester was appointed director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and associate provost in 2022. Huxtable-Jester is also professor of instruction in the Department of Psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She served as interim director of CTL in 2021 and as associate director of CTL from 2015 to 2020.
Huxtable-Jester is a recognized teacher, and a scholar of teaching and learning. Her knowledge and expertise proved to be invaluable as faculty and students transitioned to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Huxtable-Jester received the Excellence in Teaching Award (2005) and Seniors’ Choice Award (2009) from the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and The University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2013). In 2017, Dr. Huxtable-Jester was elected Fellow of The University of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Then, in 2019, she was recognized as Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation.
Huxtable-Jester earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a master’s degree in clinical-child psychology and a PhD in developmental psychology from Ohio State University. She joined the UT Dallas faculty in 2000.
Dr. Salena Brody
Associate Director
972-883-4746
salena.brody@utdallas.edu
Dr. Salena Brody is an associate director for the UT Dallas Center for Teaching and Learning.
Brody teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in BBS including the Psychology of Prejudice, Workplace Psychology, Social Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, and Intergroup Emotion and Social Change. Her research interests include intergroup contact, cross-group friendships and prejudice reduction.
She co-chairs the Teaching and Mentoring committee of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and oversees several award committees in this role. She is the SPSSI Innovative Teaching Award winner for 2018, a 2017 UT Dallas Women Leading in Diversity honoree, and was the 2017 Collin College Outstanding Professor of the Year. Brody won the UT Dallas President’s Teaching Excellence Award in Undergraduate Instruction in 2022.
Brody is passionate about teaching at the intersection of history and psychology and is particularly interested in amplifying the work of historically disadvantaged and marginalized scholars in the field. Brody earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston College and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Dr. Carol Cirulli Lanham
Associate Director
972-883-2867
cclanham@utdallas.edu
Dr. Carol Cirulli Lanham is an associate director for the UT Dallas Center for Teaching and Learning. Cirulli Lanham teaches undergraduate courses in sociology including Classical Social Theory, Sociology of the Family, Sociology of Religion, and Deviance.
She is a 2021 winner of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award as well as a new member of the University of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She also is the 2018 winner of the UT Dallas President’s Outstanding Teaching Award in Online/Blended Instruction.
Cirulli Lanham earned her undergraduate degree in government and economics at The University of Texas at Austin and her master’s and doctoral degrees from The University of Texas at Dallas.
Beverly Reed
Administrative Assistant II
972-883-2247
Beverly.Reed@utdallas.edu
Beverly Reed supports the director and associate directors, manages events and projects, and acts as liaison to process the flow of information from faculty, CTL’s team leaders, graduate teaching assistants and staff to ensure the efficient day-to-day operations in the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Reed received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and has more than 25 years of administrative experience.