Announcing the 2025–26 Aspiring Leaders Academy Cohort
Announcing the 2025–26 Aspiring Leaders Academy Cohort
For the third year, the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost welcomes a cohort of faculty into the Aspiring Leadership Academy to proactively prepare them for leadership positions. The 2025-26 cohort consists of 15 members from across campus who will learn together about best practices in academic leadership and gain insight from current academic leaders.
Academic leaders guide the strategic direction of the University by creating and fostering innovations in research, scholarship and teaching. The Aspiring Leaders Academy focuses on tenured and professional-track faculty who are interested in leadership opportunities, but have not yet served in a major leadership position.
Through the program, each cohort will develop a valuable network of mentors and peers by joining an elite group of emerging leaders at UT Austin. Participants have the added benefit of being at a similar career stage and able to advise one another as they progress through their leadership journey.
“The last two years of this program have brought together two very impressive cohorts and offered important leadership development and connection opportunities. Past participants have shared feedback supporting the important value of the program and its impact on their work as faculty members and as nascent campus leaders” said Tasha Beretvas, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. “With the continuation of this program, the University continues to emphasize the importance of proactively investing in our faculty leadership capacity.”
Bethany Albertson, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts
David Cannatella, Professor, College of Natural Sciences
Anthony David Dudo, Associate Professor, Moody College of Communication
Laura Fonken, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy
Andrew Gaudet, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Karen Landolt, Associate Professor of Instruction, McCombs School of Business
Filippo Mangolini, Associate Professor, Cockrell School of Engineering
Nicole Murry, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Tolga Ozyurtcu, Associate Professor of Instruction, College of Education
Alisa Perren, Professor, Moody College of Communication
Franco Pestilli, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Manuel Karl Rausch, Associate Professor, Cockrell School of Engineering
Daniel Richards, Associate Professor of Medicine, Dell Medical School
Sandro Sessarego, Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Jennifer Wilson, Assistant Professor of Instruction, College of Natural Sciences
While Aspiring Leaders Academy focuses on emerging academic leaders, the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors facilitates the Research Leaders Academy. Held every other year, the Research Leaders Academy focuses on established principal investigators who aspire to lead, or are already leading, large-scale research initiatives. Congratulations to the fellows in both cohorts for their current and future leadership endeavors at the University.