Tony Cucolo
Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership Development and Veterans Affairs, UT System
Speaker/Planner
Tony Cucolo joined The University of Texas System in April 2015 as Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership Development and Veterans Affairs. In this role, Mr. Cucolo is responsible for working with all academic and health institutions in the areas of leadership development for undergraduate and graduate students, leadership development programs for mid-level and senior campus leaders, and the establishment of an executive level leadership institute. Additionally, he is responsible for the coordination and integration of veterans' affairs and veterans support activities across all institutions. He serves as the system's liaison to campus ROTC programs and is also a member of UT System's Department of Defense Advisory Group.
Mr. Cucolo served more than 35 years in the U.S. Army, retiring at the rank of Major General in September 2014. Before joining the UT System, his final tour of duty was spent leading the US Army War College, an accredited institution for strategic studies, whose student bodies include senior US and foreign national security professionals preparing for leadership positions at the strategic level of the government and the military.
He earned a bachelor's degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a master's degree from the University of San Francisco. Among his awards are three Distinguished Service medals, the Bronze Star, the U.S. State Department Superior Achievement award and the French Legion of Honor. He is a Disabled Veteran.
Mr. Cucolo and his wife Ginger have three grown children, a devoted Great Dane, an ambivalent cat, and divide time between Austin and Wimberley.
Suzanne J. Farmer, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President of Talent Management/Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Speaker
Suzanne Farmer, Ph.D. is the Assistant Vice President of Talent Management and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and she also serves as the Chief Learning Officer for UT Southwestern Medical Center, where she leads the enterprise recruitment, organizational development, succession and learning strategy for the Medical School, and its University Hospitals and Clinics. Her key responsibilities include identifying and building key physician and professional leadership talent, leading organization design, galvanizing change, and driving employee engagement. Her accomplishments since joining the organization in 2012 include consolidating learning entities across the enterprise and launching the Academy for Career Enrichment (ACE) that expands access to personalized learning opportunities through technology and customized programs for key talent segments.
Prior to her role as CLO, Farmer led Talent and Organization Development at Dean Foods, led Sales Communication at Frito-Lay North America, and gained global experience leading talent management and succession planning at Celanese. She began her career at Dell Inc. in Austin as an Organization Development consultant. Farmer earned her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Central Michigan University and her B.S. in Psychology from Texas A&M University. Her assessment and selection research is published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and she is also published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, and the Journal of Occupational and Health Psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Society for Human Resource Management and the International Association of Business Communicators.
Stephanie A. Bond Huie, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives
Speaker
Dr. Huie leads several functional teams including institutional research and analysis, business intelligence and data warehousing, strategic project management, and information technology, among others.
Dr. Huie oversees the UT System Dashboard, a business intelligence system that provides publicly accessible web-based applications for extracting and analyzing institutional data. Promoting data sharing and collaboration, she also directs seekUT, a free online tool and website that provides post-graduation outcomes of UT System graduates by major. A recent first-of-its-kind agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau will provide a national picture for post-graduation success.
Dr. Huie received her undergraduate degree, as well as her master's and doctoral degrees in sociology, from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed the educational leadership program at Harvard University's Institute for Education Management.
Sara Laschever
Author and Founding Faculty Member of the Carnegie Mellon Leadership and Negotiation Academy for Women
Speaker
A leading authority on the obstacles, detours, and special circumstances that shape women's lives and careers, Sara Laschever is the co-author, with Linda Babcock, of the groundbreaking books Women Don't Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation - and Positive Strategies for Chance (Princeton University Press, 2003) and Ask for It! How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want (Bantam Publishing, 2007). She lectures and teaches workshops about women and negotiation, women's leadership challenges, and the multiple factors influencing women's long-term career success for colleges and universities, corporate audiences, law firms, government agencies, and women's leadership conferences in the U.S. and around the world.
A founding faculty member of the Carnegie Mellon Leadership and Negotiation Academy for Women and formerly a Senior Fellow for the Center for Work-Life Policy (now the Center for Talent Innovation), Sara Laschever also served as Academic Coordinator for the inaugural WIN Summit in 2015, a global women's conference focused on women and negotiation. She provides private coaching services and facilitated online group coaching for women navigating critical career transitions, preparing for high-stakes negotiations, and undertaking new leadership challenges.
Valerae O. Lewis, M.D.
Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Oncology, Division of Surgery, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Lewis, Professor of Orthopaedic Oncology, attended Yale University and graduated with a degree in Psychobiology. She then matriculated at Harvard Medical School, graduating with honors. Dr. Lewis completed her Orthopaedic training at the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program in Boston, MA and her fellowship in Musculoskeletal Oncology at the University of Chicago.
In 2000, Dr. Lewis joined The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center. She maculated through the ranks and in 2010, she was named the Dr. John Murray Professor in Orthopaedic Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Currently, and for the past ten years, Dr. Lewis serves as Director of the Musculoskeletal Oncology Fellowship Program at UTMDACC, developing this program into one of the most sought after ACGME accredited musculoskeletal oncology fellowships. In 2012, she was the first African American woman to be awarded the MD Anderson Faculty Achievement Award in Patient Care. Orthopaedic Oncology became a Department in 2014 and after a national search Dr. Lewis was named the inaugural Chair of Department of Orthopaedic Oncology. As such she became to be the first woman to chair an orthopaedic department at a freestanding cancer center, to chair an orthopaedic department in The University of Texas System, and the first African American woman to Chair an Orthopaedic Surgery Department.
Dr. Lewis is very active nationally and internationally within Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Oncology. She is active in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS), and the International Society for Limb Salvage (ISOLS) and the Western Orthopaedic Association (WOA). Dr. Lewis is a strong advocate of education, and as such, is the Chair of the MSTS Education Committee, was Chair of the AAOS Instructional Course Lecture Tumor Subcommittee and currently serves as Chair of the Content Committee for the AAOS Council on Education. She served on the board of the American Orthopaedic Association from 2007 to 2010 and the board of the Western Orthopaedic Association from 2005 - 2014. In 2014 -2015 she served as President of the Western Orthopaedic Association.
Dr. Lewis' expertise is with treating both children and adults with bone and soft tissue sarcomas of the pelvis and extremities. In 2011 she started the Multidisciplinary Pelvic Sarcoma Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center that not only addresses the clinical needs of this unique group of patients, but works to improve both the clinical and functional outcome of patients with pelvic sarcoma. Her research works to investigate the gene functions tied to osteosarcoma and the development of treatments that might interrupt this process.
Married for almost 23 years, Dr. Lewis is the mother of two wonderful 14 year old twins.
Maria Martinez-Cosio, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, UT Arlington
Speaker
Maria Martinez-Cosio [Coh-see-oh] is a first-generation college graduate, whose interests gravitate towards understanding the experience of immigrants, particularly those from Latin America in the urban environment. An urban sociologist with a Ph.D. from UC San Diego, she most recently published a book on private foundations engaged in comprehensive efforts to improve communities populated by English-language-learners. In keeping with her commitment to underserved communities, Dr. Cosio led a team of faculty and staff at UT Arlington that successfully applied for the university's first Hispanic Serving Institution grant. The five-year Title V $2.6 million grant is entering its second year supporting the success of transfer students. Dr. Cosio also serves as the Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at UT Arlington.
Susan Miller, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Founder, Voicetrainer, LLC
Speaker
Susan Miller, Ph.D. is Founder of Voicetrainer LLC, a voice, speech and communication consulting business (http://www.voicetrainer.com/about-us). She has worked closely with individuals at all stages of their career, from corporate executives, government officials, broadcasters, and doctors. Susan is a popular trainer whose presentations, group seminars, and training programs have included topics on communicating confidently, using vocal power, developing a commanding presence, diminishing stage fright, presenting concise messages and maintaining vocal health. She has been featured on national radio and television stations and the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Voice of America, and NPR. She has been a frequent instructor in the AAMC Women Career Development seminars. She currently provides online coaching for professionals who wish to fine-tune their communication and presentation skills. Susan is an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the Georgetown University Hospital, a scientific fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and a certified speech-language pathologist. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Communication Science from The University of Texas at Dallas. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Hearing and Language Association.
Melissa L. Murphy, Ph.D.
Founder/Chief Communication Coach of The Pitch Academy & Lecturer in the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin
Speaker
Melissa Murphy, Ph.D. is the Chief Communication Coach of The Pitch Academy and award-winning teacher and scholar in organizational communication and technology at The University of Texas. She currently teaches business communication in the McCombs School of Business and has taught professional communication skills and organizational communication for the Moody College of Communication. She has also held academic teaching positions in marketing for the Texas MSTC program.
She has published work on web-conferencing in the classroom, international crisis communication, interviewing, and professionalism for students. Her latest work investigates the role of storytelling in raising capital in crowdfunding campaigns.
Elizabeth LaTorre Travis, Ph.D., FASTRO
Associate Vice President, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Speaker/Planner
Elizabeth Travis, Ph.D. is the Associate Vice President, Women and Minority Faculty Inclusion, and Mattie Allen Fair Professor in Cancer Research in the departments of Experimental Radiation Oncology and Pulmonary Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is an internationally recognized scientist who has made significant contributions to our understanding of the effects of radiation on normal tissues in her 25 years in the field. For the past eight years, she served as Associate Vice President, Women Faculty Programs, where she led efforts to further the academic careers of women physicians and scientists by ensuring they are appointed to high profile committees and leadership positions, by leading institutional policy change to address obstacles that interfere with women's success, and by providing career guidance to countless women faculty. The office recently expanded under her leadership to include minority faculty, where she will apply similar and new strategies to address their specific career needs. Dr. Travis is a principal investigator on two NIH grants: a U54 partnership grant with Puerto Rico, 'Partnership for Excellence in Cancer Research,' and an R001 grant 'Gatekeepers and Gender Schemas," which seeks to understand the role that gender plays in choosing faculty for tenure track positions. She is a fellow of the American Society of Radiation Oncology, recipient of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Group on Women in Medicine and Science Leadership Development Award for an individual (2009) and an institution (2012). Dr. Travis was inducted into the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in 2012 and elected as a member of its Board of Directors in 2013 and became chair in January 2017. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Women in Science. She was recognized at the Houston Italian Cultural and Community Center's 12th annual gala honoring the Italian Influence in Medicine and is the recipient of the 2014 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award by The American Association for Women Radiologists. She is the past Chair of the Group on Women in Medicine and Science, Association of American Medical Colleges.
