The College of Education and Human Development’s (COEHD) Community Family Life Center has been renamed the Sarabia Family Counseling Center after the late Dr. Fermin Sarabia. The center, located on the UTSA Downtown Campus, provides free mental health services to the San Antonio community.
the San Antonio community. Sarabia, the namesake for the counseling center, was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and member of the Stardust Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to philanthropy and education. He practiced psychiatry in the local community for more than 40 years before his passing in 2010.
In 2007, Sarabia established the Community Family Life Center in the Guadalupe Community Center. The center was later moved to its current home on the third floor of the Durango Building on the UTSA Downtown Campus and continues to provide counseling services free of charge with the help of the students and faculty in COEHD’s Department of Counseling and the Stardust Club.
The renaming of the center reflects Sarabia’s contributions to the field of psychiatry, to the counseling center, and to the community. The Stardust Club, Sarabia’s wife, Perla Sarabia, and their daughters will continue to contribute to the center in his honor. To date, they have donated nearly $75,000.
Dr. Norma Guerra, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, was named Director of Faculty Engagement. Her nine-month appointment began Sept. 1 with the start of the school year and will continue through May.
As director, Guerra will work under Dr. Sandra Welch, senior vice provost for institutional effectiveness, to promote faculty awareness and participation in the Graduation Rate Improvement Plan (GRIP). The goal of the plan is to improve the university’s graduation rates.
Dr. Mark Jones, adjunct professor in the Department of Counseling and coordinator of the Neurofeedback Program, was elected president of the Biofeedback Society of Texas (BST). His term as president began on Sept. 21 and will continue through September 2015.
As president, Jones will preside over the society’s board, facilitate the board’s quarterly meetings, and work to increase awareness of and community involvement in biofeedback.
The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Education and Human Development has named Dr. Theodorea Regina Berry, associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, as director of the African American Studies (AAS) Program. The AAS program is housed in the college’s Consortium for Social Transformation.
As director, Berry will manage the faculty, students, and course schedules for the program and facilitate in the development and implementation of academic-related programming.
The UTSA Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs has named Associate Professor Wan Xiang Yao as director of both the East Asia Institute and Confucius Institute.
Yao joined the UTSA faculty in 2000 and served as chair for the Department of Kinesiology, Health and Nutrition from 2008 to 2014. He is the former president of the San Antonio Chinese Alliance and plays an active role in fostering Chinese-American relations. He has led several study abroad programs, taking approximately 100 students from both the College of the Education and Human Development and the Honors College to China since 2008. Yao has also assisted in the establishment of formal agreements between UTSA and several prestigious Chinese universities, and he has initiated joint research and teaching projects and scholar and student exchanges in support of those agreements.
"The College of Education and Human Development strives to advocate for children by providing them with the highest quality of educational services. Our focus is to take a collaborative approach and provide children with individualized academic, behavioral, and emotional support to ensure their overall well-being and success in school.”
Amber Collins
Graduate Student, Department of Edcuational Psychology
1928 - 2014
First UTSA Faculty Member & Science Educator, 15 years
1959 - 2014
Academic Advisor, 8 years