UTSA Endowed and Named Chairs and Professorships   Profiles   Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship in COEHD
UTSA Endowed and Named Chairs and Professorships
Betty Merchant, Ph.D.
Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship in COEHD
The Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship in the College of Education and Human Development was created in 2012 by Dr. Loretta Clarke. The endowment was established to honor her mother. Both Loretta and her husband Jeffrey are first-generation UTSA alumni. The Clarkes have consistently demonstrated their faith in UTSA’s mission and ability to make a significant positive impact on the lives of educators and health professionals.

Betty Merchant, Ph.D.

Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship in COEHD

Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Betty Merchant served as the first chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UTSA, and was dean of the College of Education and Human Development for 12 years. She is currently a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.  

Merchant is the first recipient of the Henrietta Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship.

"This endowment has allowed me to further my research, nationally and internationally, regarding: 1) the responses of teachers and administrators to the needs of refugee students, and the resources they need to be successful, and 2) the ways in which administrators and teachers maintain instruction in times of crisis — most recently, the Coronavirus pandemic," she shared.

Prior to joining UTSA, she was an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Merchant has taught at all grade levels, K-12 in a broad range of cultural and linguistic contexts, including tribally controlled Native American schools. 

Merchant received her Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University.