Advisory Board

Dr. Richard C. Benson is the fifth president of The University of Texas at Dallas, a young university of very high research activity (Carnegie R1) that is growing rapidly in size and stature.  According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, UT Dallas is one of the fastest growing public universities over the past ten years.

Benson earned a bachelor of science and engineering degree in aerospace and mechanical science from Princeton University in 1973, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1974, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1977.

Benson’s research at the University of Rochester was primarily focused on the mechanics of highly flexible structures.  With sponsorship from the Eastman Kodak Company, Hewlett-Packard, Bausch & Lomb, Xerox and others, he and his advisees modeled magnetic disks and tapes, paper sheets, soft contact lenses, photographic film and other easily deformed structures.

Benson has received three significant honors from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).  In 1984 he received the ASME Henry Hess Award, which honors a research publication by a young author.  In 1998 he was made a Fellow of the ASME.  In 2009 he was elected to a three-year term on the ASME Board of Governors (2010-13).  He also has held editorial positions with the ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, ASME Press and Applied Mechanics Reviews.

Dr. Inga H. Musselman was named provost and vice president for academic affairs in 2017.

As Chief Academic Officer, she oversees curricula, instruction and research activities at UT Dallas.  The Office of the Provost also oversees faculty hiring, the process of faculty review, promotion and tenure, and budget priorities and allocations for the individual schools and other academic units.  Musselman also is the primary contact with The University of Texas System for academic affairs.

An analytical chemist, Musselman joined the UT Dallas faculty as an assistant professor in 1992, just two years after the first freshman class was admitted.  As the University grew, she advanced through the academic ranks, holding leadership roles in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and attaining the title of professor. She was appointed associate provost for faculty affairs in 2008 and senior vice provost in 2014.

Musselman earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Gettysburg College, which named her a distinguished alumna in 2017.

She has been awarded five patents and has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals and refereed conference proceedings, and four chapters in edited volumes.

Emmanuel Tosan Aduayi is a Business Development Executive/Africa liaison at Axxess, the leading global technology innovator for healthcare at home.  With a global presence across multiple continents including Africa, Axxess is all about improving the quality of healthcare services delivered to patients in their homes by empowering healthcare organizations with state-of-the-art technology solutions.  Aduayi has led delegations of Axxess leadership to Lagos Nigeria on several occasions.

Aduayi is also a member of the governing board of the U.S. Business in African Awards-USBAA, an initiative of the Africa Center for the Study of the United States-ACSUS, WITS University, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Aduayi brings over two decades of experience in journalism, communications, and public relations, and having traveled extensively across the globe, also help with driving the success story of Axxess in our global markets.  He is also the founder and Publisher of Trendy Africa, a web and print based information magazine.  Trendy Africa was founded in 2004.

Cristen Casey is the Director of the Center for International Education at Albion College, a liberal arts institution committed to values of diversity, belonging, and anti-racism.  Prior to her work at Albion College, Ms. Casey worked as the Director of UT Dallas’ International Student Services Office and later the Assistant Vice President for the UT Dallas International Center.  During her 20 years at UT Dallas, she had the great fortune of seeing the International Center grow in scope, capacity, and impact. With her 26 years of international education experience, Ms. Casey has advocated for broad student access to global education opportunities and has supervised multiple intercultural competency initiatives.  She is a Fulbright alumna and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and her passions include travel, hiking, backpacking, and adventure sports like skydiving.

Lewis Chang graduated from UT Dallas with a degree in neuroscience before continuing on to attend medical school at UT Southwestern Medical Center.  There, he shifted into healthcare management, with nearly a decade of experience in clinical research, study management and organization, data analysis, and strategic development.  He is now CEO of Qualia Labs, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in the design and fabrication of neural interface devices.  He is also currently the president of UT Dallas’ Eugene McDermott Scholars Program Alumni Association as well as several boards across Dallas in healthcare and the arts.

Sejal is the Executive Director of Akanksha Education Fund, an education non profit that runs 26 public private partnership schools in India for children from low income communities. She has been a passionate advocate and supporter of various US and India based nonprofits focusing on education, hunger relief and women’s issues.

Her 30-year career includes work in sectors like venture capital, M&A, accounting, entrepreneurship, nonprofit and corporate social responsibility. Most recently, she worked at Communities Foundation of Texas, where she led a strategic initiative focused on engaging businesses in the community. She also has experience supporting individuals and families with their philanthropic giving and engagement. Among other career highlights, she was a co-founder of a tech incubator, STARTech, she also started a social venture, SevaYatra focused on engaging US based universities and multinational corporations with India based NGOs.

Sejal was born in India and lived and worked in Mumbai for 20 years. She is a Chartered Accountant from India and holds a Masters in Business Administration from University of Texas at Dallas and Masters in Liberal Studies from Southern Methodist University. Sejal is a passionate and engaged citizen of both countries and joined Akanksha in 2021 with a strong desire to transform lives through education.

Consul General in Dallas, Texas, since May 2016.

Member of the Mexican Foreign Service since 1998.  Legal Director in the General Directorate of Foreign Service and Human Resources, as well as Director for South America in the Undersecretariat for Latin America and the Caribbean.  Executive Director of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME).  Worked in the Mexican Embassies in Brazil and Argentina assigned at political, economic and, particularly, consular affairs and protection of Mexicans abroad.

Law degree from UNAM, for which he represented Mexico in the “Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition”.  Undergraduate thesis on “Citizens’ Councils in Mexico City, Berlin, Barcelona and New York”.  Master in Diplomatic Studies at the Instituto Matías Romero where he graduated in 1999 with the thesis “Vote Considerations of Mexicans abroad”

Mid-Career Diploma in Jakarta where he was elected valedictorian by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and Diploma of the Foreign Service Institute of the Republic of Argentina where he graduated with outstanding qualification.

Dr. Juan E. González, is the Vice Provost for Global Engagement and Dean of Graduate Education at The University of Texas at Dallas.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Public Health from Michigan State University, a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and did his postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  His research has concentrated on the study of the molecular signals exchanged between prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and bacterial quorum sensing, the regulation of gene expression in response to fluctuations in cell-population density. This work has been supported by various grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

As Dean of Graduate Education, Dr. González oversees 57 Masters, 1 AuD, and 30 Ph.D. degree programs with close to 9,000 students across seven schools.  Those programs award an average of 3,200 Master’s and 250 doctoral degrees per academic year. Dr. González also manages the UT Dallas International Center, which hosts and monitors close to 9,000 students from over 113 countries and administers all education abroad initiatives. Among other accomplishments, during his tenure as Dean, he created a new recruitment campaign emphasizing underrepresented students, instituted a new electronic graduate catalog exception system, led a major revision and implementation of the academic program review process, and reorganized the International Center.

In November 2022, Susan became Consul General in Dallas, the senior representative of the Government in Canada, responsible for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana and Arkansas. Her office, the Consulate General, covers economic, political, and public affairs, and provides consular and commercial services. The Consulate of Canada in Houston, which focuses on commercial issues, also reports to her office. In addition, these offices coordinate with several other key federal government departments, which focus on a range of issues including energy, environment, security and defence, as well as with Canadian provinces who are active in the territory.

Previously, Susan was Consul General in Miami (2016-2022), Canada`s Senior Arctic Official (2013-16), and Director General in the trade policy area, covering policy, negotiations and regulatory issues (2009-13).  She was at the Embassy of Canada in Washington DC (2004-09), where she became the Minister (Economic Affairs). In 2001-04, she was Canada`s Ambassador in Montevideo, Uruguay.  She previously held trade positions in Yaoundé, Paris and Buenos Aires. 

Prior to joining the Government of Canada, Susan taught at both Cambrian College in Sudbury, and George Brown College in Toronto.  She holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, at Western University, and an Honours BA in Math and English, from Queen’s University.

Ms Harper has two children, who keep her diplomatic, financial and cross-border travel skills honed.

Jennifer Hilton Montero is the Director for International Initiatives at the University of Texas at Dallas.  She serves as the new strategic thought-leader and visionary responsible for developing an integrated and cohesive approach to all of UT Dallas’ global partnerships and programs.  Dr. Hilton Montero is an international collaboration expert and scholar-practitioner “pracademic” with over 10 years of executive and management experience in international higher education and public & international affairs.  Dr. Hilton Montero received her Ph.D. from the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs Department of Public Policy and Administration at Florida International University.  Dr. Hilton Montero received her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Spanish with honors in 2004 from Austin College in Sherman, Texas.  She completed her Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations with specializations in International Education and Intercultural Training and Consulting in 2006 from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jennifer S. Holmes is the Lloyd V. Berkner Professor and Dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas.  She received her AB from the University of Chicago in 1993 and her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1998.  Her major area of research is political violence and terrorism.  In addition to numerous journal articles, she is the author or editor of seven books, including Guns, Drugs and Development in Colombia (University of Texas Press, 2008), Terrorism and Democratic Stability Revisited (Manchester University Press, 2008), Immigration Judges and U.S. Asylum Policy (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) and Latin American Democracy:  Emerging Reality or Endangered Species?  (Routledge, 2008, 2015).  She has conducted fieldwork in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru.  In college, she lived in Mexico City and Seville, Spain in study abroad programs.  She is a passionate advocate of study abroad for our students.

Mr. Sunil Maini, a proud Texan since 1981, was born in New Delhi, India and moved to US as a student.  After graduating from University of Texas at Dallas in Accounting and Finance, he became a Certified Public Accountant in 1987.  and in 1990 he started Sunil Mani CPA PC – An Accounting and Tax firm and has been serving the DFW Metroplex area for the past 32 years.

He is the current chairman (2022 and2023) and hold the title Chair-Emeritus of US India Chamber of Commerce.  He has the brilliant track record of leading the chamber in 2012 and 2013 as Chairman. Maini has extended his community services as a member of Chinmaya Mission DFW for the past 25 years and has served in various roles as a Board Member, Treasurer, and Internal auditor.  Dallas Regional Chamber is another avenue to extend his expertise and vision by serving as a Board Member from 2021.

Dr. Rafael Martín is the Vice President and Chief of Staff of The University of Texas at Dallas.  A native of Dallas, Rafael attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar earning a B.A. in Economics.  Upon graduation he joined the Dallas office of McKinsey & Company and served clients in the information systems, retail and energy industries.  Rafael received a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  His Ph.D. research in Public Policy and Political Economy at The University of Texas at Dallas focused on commercialization of university technologies and the determinants of University licensing revenue.

Rafael joined UT Dallas in 2003 as the Manager of the Office of Technology Transfer.  In 2006, he became the Associate Vice President for Research and served as the Interim Vice President for Research from 2017 to 2018.  In 2019, Rafael became UTD’s Vice President and Chief of Staff.  As Chief of Staff, Rafael serves as a liaison with campus leadership, makes policy recommendations to the President, assists in outreach to the University’s community partners and supporters, and provides oversight of campus-wide administrative functions, including human resources management, the university police department, information security, legal affairs, institutional success and decision support, audit and consulting services, institutional equity, compliance and Title IX, and institutional risk and safety programs.

Dr. Greg Morris serves as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Services at Dallas College, one of the nation’s largest community college systems with service to over 100,000 students annually.  In his role, Greg provides executive leadership over several academic support areas including the Learning Commons, (libraries, tutoring, academic testing, and instructional computing), and the Offices of Academic Scheduling, Articulation and Transfer, Academic Compliance, and Catalog and Curriculum Operations.  He also leads the Office of Special Academic Programs which supports several academic enrichment programs including the Honors Program, Phi-Theta Kappa, SkillsUSA, Service Learning and the Common Book initiative.

Prior to coming to Dallas College, Greg served as the Vice Chancellor with the West Virginia Community and Technical College System, the chief undergraduate enrollment officer at The University of Texas at Dallas and led the University of Hawaii System’s off-campus military education and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard apprenticeship programs at Honolulu Community College.

Dr. Morris holds an undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture from West Virginia University and a Doctorate in Education from The George Washington University.  In 2018, Greg was one of only 27 community college leaders across the nation to be selected as an Aspen Presidential Fellow with the Aspen Institute.

Nils Roemer serves as inaugural dean for the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas.  He holds the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished Chair, the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professorship, and is the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies Director.

A scholar, educator, author, and co-editor of several publications, Roemer’s research lies in the fields of modern and Jewish history, with a specific emphasis on German-Jewish history.  He also has a particular interest in cultural and intellectual history.  Roemer earned an MA from the University of Hamburg and a PhD from Columbia University.

Mike is Senior Vice President of the Dallas Regional Chamber’s economic development program, a position he has held for 18 years.  Mike leads the economic development staff and critical partnering with regional communities and allies, the State of Texas, the Chamber’s members, and of course companies and corporate location advisors.  In his current role, Mike and his team have supported numerous corporate moves to the Dallas region, including Fortune 500 headquarters relocations and other significant headquarters, office, and industrial projects.

Mike holds a Master of Science degree in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Bachelor of Science degree in regional planning, also from Southern Miss. Mike is currently one of 9 appointees to the State of Texas incentives oversight committee that serves the Texas legislature.

Sanjeeb Samanta, is originally from Malaysia and is the Principal of Praxis Solutions International.  He has more than 35 years of experience at Fortune 500s in Asia, Europe and U.S. with companies such as PriceWaterhouse, Technip, IBM, and last 25 years at Texas Instruments.  His area of expertise is Organization Transformation with a focus on Customer Success, Change Management, Process Involvement, and Outsourcing/Shared Services. Sanjeeb is a proud alum of UT Dallas and got his BA Business (’94) and MS MIS (’95) from JSOM.  While at UTD, Sanjeeb was an international student and excelled as a student leader.  He is the first international student to have been elected Student Government President (’93-94) at UTD.  Among his numerous leadership roles, he served on the UT System Student Advisory Group and on the Search Committee for the President of UTD (Dr. Jennifer).  He was awarded the UTD Student Leadership Award (’93-94).

The Honorable Gloria McCall Snead is the Honorary Consul of Paraguay in Dallas, Texas.

Gloria’s past professional experiences include Westcott Communications, early “Angel” Investor and Vice-President, Corporate Relations; Partner at J.L. Godat & Associates; Owner at Alexander & McCall Public Relations; Producer/Promoter at Concerts West; and Real Estate Investor and Restorer.

Gloria’s current investments and consulting experience include oil & gas investments in Brazil and Paraguay; environmental & sustainability start-ups, non-invasive pain Management Company and hospice; real estate, various personal initiatives; and waste management and inorganic project consultancy.

She studied at UT Dallas in Master/Ph.D.  School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences program.  

She received her bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University with majors in Political Science & Romance Languages (French and Spanish) and minors in Journalism and English.  She was a member of Sigma Delta Pi (Excellence: Spanish Language and Literature), and a recipient of SMU S.O.T.A. Award