UT Regents honor 12 faculty with 2026 Outstanding Teaching Awards

AUSTIN, TX — The University of Texas System Board of Regents has named 12 faculty members as recipients of the 2026 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards, which recognize exceptional classroom performance and innovation. Each honoree was selected after competitive, multi-stage review that examined the methods they use to engage students, evidence that those methods improve outcomes, and future strategies for sharing their approach with colleagues across the UT System.

“These twelve recipients have demonstrated exceptional skill as educators and outstanding commitment to students,” said UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife. “The Board is grateful for all the incredible educators we have working across the campuses.”

The Board of Regents established the awards in 2008, reflecting the Board’s view that teaching excellence is of the highest priority. Each recipient receives a cash award, a certificate and a medallion, and will be recognized at the Board’s November meeting.

While the awards recognize specific educators, the process is designed to benefit the entire teaching ecosystem through the collection of pedagogical practices and ideas.  Selection begins with each UT institution, who may forward no more than two nominees. Every nominee has the endorsement of their institution’s president and must submit a teaching dossier that includes a statement of their teaching philosophy, letters of support from their faculty peers and former students, and a plan for sharing their teaching methods with others across the UT System. Throughout the process, nominees are evaluated by students, peer faculty and external reviewers.

This year’s honorees represent disciplines ranging from mathematics, literature and music to cybersecurity, endodontics and child and adolescent psychiatry. The 2026 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award recipients are:

  • Perla Abrego, Associate Professor, Department of Literature and Language, UT Permian Basin
  • Anibal Diogenes, Professor, Chair, and Associate Dean, Department of Endodontics, UT San Antonio
  • Brittney Falahola, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Stephen F. Austin State University
  • Jeremy Glass, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, UT Arlington
  • David Kornhaber, Associate Professor, Department of English, UT Austin
  • Monica Lawson, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, UT San Antonio
  • Rita Mitra, Professor of Practice, Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity, UT San Antonio
  • Emmerentie Oliphant, Professor for Community-Based Research and Director of Doctorate in Social Work, School of Social Work, Stephen F. Austin State University
  • Sooah Ellen Park, Associate Professor, Department of Music, UT Tyler
  • Jennifer Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Accounting, Finance, Information Systems and Business Law, UT Tyler
  • Christina Thompson, Professor of Instruction, Hobson Wildenthal Honors College, UT Dallas
  • Kathlene Trello-Rishel, Professor and Program Director for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship and the Triple Board Program, Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern

More information about the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards, including past recipients, is available at utsystem.edu/sites/regents-outstanding-teaching-awards.

About The University of Texas System

With 13 institutions that enroll more than 270,000 students, the UT System is the largest university system in Texas and one of the largest public university systems in the United States. UT institutions awarded over 69,000 degrees and certificates last year, including more than one-third of the undergraduate degrees in Texas. UT institutions educate more than half of the state’s health care professionals with a four-year degree or above, including 56% of the state's medical degrees annually. The combined efforts of UT owned and affiliated hospitals and clinics resulted in nearly 12 million outpatient visits and more than 2.3 million hospital days in the last year reported. The UT System’s $5.2 billion research enterprise ranks No. 1 in Texas and No. 2 in the U.S. for research expenditures. With an operating budget of $36.6 billion for fiscal year 2027, UT institutions collectively employ more than 160,000 faculty, health care professionals, support staff and students.

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