Sul Ross State University has selected faculty recipients for outstanding scholarship and service for the 2024 term.
The awards are coordinated by the Office of the Provost while recipients are nominated by their faculty peers.
Dr. Martin Urbina, a Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, was chosen by his peers for the Outstanding Scholar Award.
Urbina received his bachelor’s degree from Sul Ross State and his master’s degree from New Mexico State University (NMSU). His graduate thesis is titled, “Is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act Measuring Up to its Expectations?”
He received his Ph.D. from Western Michigan University (WMU) with a dissertation titled, “Capital Punishment: A New Perspective on Race and Ethnic Differences in Punishment and Death Sentence Outcomes.”
Urbina held teaching positions at NMSU, WMU, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Howard College and Texas A&M-Central Texas before coming back to SRSU in Fall 2009.
He was a nominee for the Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award at UWM in 2004, the Piper Professor Award at SRSU in 2018 and the Texas State University System Regents’ Professor Award in 2019.
Urbina has published multiple articles and two books, Immigration and the Law: Race, Citizenship, and Social Control and Chronicles of Mexican Immigrants: Their Lives, Struggles, and the Dream of Dignity.
He is the faculty co-advisor of Alpha Tau Omega, the Criminal Justice honor society, and has served on a variety of faculty and university committees.
Dr. Kathy Stein, the Assistant Dean for Student Success, Director of the Academic Center for Excellence and a Professor of English, was chosen for the Faculty Service Award.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Master of Arts in Professional Writing and Rhetoric and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).
In addition to SRSU, Dr. Stein has held teaching positions at UTEP, El Paso Community College, Odessa College and at the University of Texas Permian Basin.
She served as the Faculty in Residence from 2008-2013 and again during the 2022-2023 academic year, offering workshops, games night and tutoring sessions to students, and was a member of the committee to create the Lobo Den, a university-wide tutoring center.
Stein helped develop the Faculty Mentoring Program in 2023 to support first-year students, which is now a part of Lobos LEAD, a retention program for undergraduates providing opportunities to work on campus, serve others and develop leadership skills.
She served as the Vice President and President of the Faculty Assembly, each for two terms, and on numerous departmental, college and university committees. She was the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for six years, during which time she also represented SRSU on the faculty council for the American Southwest Conference.
As a member of the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA), she served as the Secretary and President, and as the Conference Chair in 2018 and 2021. In 2012, she was awarded the Karen G. Smith Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Service, and in 2022, the Robert Griffin Award for Long and Outstanding Service.
She is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Alpine.
For more information, email provost@sulross.edu.