College of Education Adds Three Outstanding Scholars

The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education has gained three new faculty members who will be joining the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. These newest additions have expertise and experience that will enhance and advance scholarship in areas such as second language acquisition, cardiovascular health and adolescent risk behaviors. Please welcome the following to the college:

Veronica Sardegna, Ph.D.

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Foreign Language Education

Contact information: Email Dr. Sardegna

Background: Dr. Sardegna came to The University of Texas at Austin’s College from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received her doctorate in May 2009. 

Research interests: Second language acquisition and teacher education; foreign and second language teaching and learning; language learning strategies instruction and learner autonomy; online instruction; pronunciation teaching; academic and business writing.

Richard Matthew Brothers, Ph.D.

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education

Contact information: Email Dr. Brothers, 512-232-6016

Background: Before coming to The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education, Dr. Brothers was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine for three years, with a joint appointment in Internal Medicine at UT-Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Research interests: Cardiovascular physiology with a focus on blood pressure control and cardiac and cerebrovascular (brain blood flow) function in healthy and disease populations.

Jessica Duncan Cance, Ph.D.

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education

Contact information: Email Dr. Cance,512-471-8184

Background: Dr. Cance joined The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education after obtaining her Ph.D. from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Research interests: Adolescent risk behavior etiology and prevention - specifically, exploring how the longitudinal interactions between biological, psychological and social factors affect adolescent substance use, sexual risk taking and aggression.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910