The University's Director of Communications is working on a special summer project in hopes of profiling some "interesting students." We are looking for students with compelling personal or academic stories (much like the stories done each semester for commencement). This time, however, the focus is on transfer students and graduate students. If you have a student with a compelling story and they are not on the list below, please forward the students information to Byron Spencer <byron.spencer@utsa.edu<mailto:byron.spencer@utsa.edu>> or Jo Ann Jones <Joann.Jones@utsa.edu<mailto:Joann.Jones@utsa.edu>>. The list will be finalized on Friday, so please submit any student nominations before 5 p.m. on Thursday (July 10th). Student Name/Contact Info Background Faculty Name/Contact Info Adolph Delgado adolphdelgado@yahoo.com<mailto:adolphdelgado@yahoo.com> I had A.J. Delgado in a grad statistics course. He never received his HS Diploma, dropping out at I think 9th grade (or so). He worked in various odd jobs and professions, ultimately earning his GED so that he could attend college. He attended community college, supporting himself and a small family by various jobs, and ultimately enrolled at UTSA for his undergraduate work (I think Psychology). He has excelled since entering community college, and just graduated from our Master's program in Health & Kinesiology. As a master's student he requested to take my doctoral-level more advanced statistics course in the spring and was clearly the best student in the class. He is now considering doctoral work. Since he is a graduate now, not sure if he fits the "profile" you are looking for, but he is a great story and succeeded in large part due to his connection to UTSA - coupled with a tremendous intellect and work ethic Gerry Dizinno <Gerry.Dizinno@utsa.edu<mailto:Gerry.Dizinno@utsa.edu>> Robab Khoshbooii<https://asap.utsa.edu/pls/prod/bwlkosad.P_FacSelectAtypView... 830-3882420 r.khoshbooii@yahoo.com<mailto:r.khoshbooii@yahoo.com> Robab is a graduate student in ILT. She is originally from Iraq, who has moved to the US. She has a daughter who is also a student at UTSA and is trying to get a second daughter out of Iraq to join them. She has overcome many obstacles in order to get to the US and an education...abusive spouse, divorce (not looked upon favorably in Iraq), low expectation for women to work outside home and go to school, raising children in an abusive home and then as a single mom in a country that does not support single mothers. Christine Moseley <Christine.Moseley@utsa.edu<mailto:Christine.Moseley@utsa.edu>> Wesley S. Zahraei<https://asap.utsa.edu/pls/prod/bwlkosad.P_FacSelectAtypView> 210-3261412 WESLEY_ZAHRAEI@YAHOO.COM<mailto:WESLEY_ZAHRAEI@YAHOO.COM> Wesley is a graduate student in ILT and has an amazing story! He escaped from Iran when the Shah took over at the age of 17. Took him many years to get to US through refugee camp in Pakistan, onto Russia, Germany, England and then US. He has obtained US citizenship, and a BS from UTSA. Has not been back in over 35 years nor seen any of his family. Assumed parents are dead/killed. Christine Moseley <Christine.Moseley@utsa.edu<mailto:Christine.Moseley@utsa.edu>> Elizabeth Cook I nominate Elizabeth Cook, a doctoral fellow in the ELPS department. What makes her "interesting" is that Liz is a first generation African American doctoral student with two children and a husband in the military. She juggles these multiple roles (full time graduate student, mother, wife/partner, research assistant, etc.) and has been a great student/community leader on our campus. Her research interests explore the experiences of African American students at Hispanic Serving Institutions, a project that Liz and I have been working on and has much potential for future work on our campus as we seek to become a Tier 1 institution. Vijay Kanagala <Vijay.Kanagala@utsa.edu<mailto:Vijay.Kanagala@utsa.edu>> Majed Hajj He's an ELPS grad student who taught high school both in Lebanon and in San Antonio. Michael Jennings <Michael.Jennings@utsa.edu<mailto:Michael.Jennings@utsa.edu>> I recommend the 5 students in Winter Garden Cohort 1 who have all completed their Doctor of Education degree through the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. The Winter Garden Cohort program is an outreach initiative by the ELPS Department to offer the Ed.D.in K12 Educational Leadership in the Winter Garden Region of Texas. All courses were offered at Southwest Texas Junior College-Uvalde Campus. Courses were offered in both face to face and telepresence formats. B I would be happy to share more information about the Winter Garden Cohort. Mariela Rodriguez <Mariela.Rodriguez@utsa.edu<mailto:Mariela.Rodriguez@utsa.edu>> Anastasia Sawchak I'd like to recommend Anastasia Sawchak for this profile. She's a graduate student in biology who is also pursuing her certificate in behavior analysis through our program. She's also giving up her summer to accrue supervised field experience hours by volunteering her time to work with children with autism in the TEAM Center. Please let me know if you need any additional information. Lee Mason <Lee.Mason@utsa.edu<mailto:Lee.Mason@utsa.edu>>