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UTD Welcomes New Experts

By Office of Media Relations | Sept. 15, 2022

The University of Texas at Dallas welcomed one of its largest groups of new tenured and tenure-track faculty members with 43 of them joining the University this year, including many who started this fall. The professors bring an array of expertise in disciplines ranging from art history and game design to psychology and neuroscience, to computer science and mechanical engineering.

The School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology welcomes new faculty Dr. Ali Asgar Alibhai, Jeff Price, Dr. Jonathan Tsou, Dr. Mai Wang, Dr. Katrina Rushing, Kristen Cochran, and Dr. Dora Valkanova.


Dr. Ali Asgar Alibhai

Dr. Ali Asgar Alibhai

Assistant Professor of Art History

Education: PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies, Harvard University; Master of Arts in medieval studies, Southern Methodist University; Bachelor of Arts in Arabic and Islamic studies, Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, Surat, India

Research areas: art; architecture and material culture of the Islamic world


Associate Professor Jeff Price

Jeff Price

Associate Professor of Game Development

Education: Master of Fine Arts in multimedia, animation, and graphic design, Virginia Commonwealth University; Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design, University of Oklahoma

Research areas: game design; photogrammetry; virtual and augmented reality


Dr. Jonathan Tsou

Dr. Jonathan Tsou

Professor of Philosophy, Marvin and Kathleen Stone Distinguished Professor of Humanities in Medicine and Science

Education: PhD in conceptual and historical studies of science, University of Chicago; Master of Arts in philosophy, University of Western Ontario; Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, Simon Fraser University in British Columbia

Research areas: philosophy of science, philosophy of psychiatry, philosophy of mind/cognitive science, history of 20th-century philosophy of science


Dr. Mai Wang

Dr. Mai Wang

Assistant Professor of Literature

Education: PhD and Master of Arts in English, Stanford University; Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, Boston University; Bachelor of Arts in English, Yale University

Research areas: transnational diasporic literary studies


Dr, Katrina Rushing

Dr. Katrina Rushing

Assistant Professor of Instruction — Music Theory

Education: Doctor of Musical Arts, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Masters of Music Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Bachelor of Music Louisiana College, Pineville, Louisiana.

Research areas: music theory, ear training, sight singing, music fundamentals, music appreciation, piano pedagogy


Assistant Professor Kristen Cochran

Kristen Cochran

Assistant Professor of Instruction — Visual Arts

Education: MFA Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. BFA Painting/Printmaking University of Washington, Seattle, WA. BA English University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Research areas: sculpture, drawing, design


Dr. Dora Valkanova

Dr. Dora Valkanova

Visiting Assistant Professor – Critical Media Studies

Education: PhD in Communications and Media (Minor in Cinema Studies), 2020 Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, IL, Masters of Arts in Communication and Society 2010, Bachelors of Arts in Political Science, 2007

Research areas: film production, film theory, film analysis


This article is based on an article by Phil Roth, which originally appeared in the UT Dallas News