David P. Manuel, Ph.D., vice president for Academic Affairs, has announced
faculty appointments for the 2002-2003 academic year at St. Mary’s University.

From the School of Business and Administration, Dana Kerr, Ph.D., is an
assistant professor of finance, and Prasad Padmanabhan, Ph.D., is an
associate professor of finance and Myra Stafford Pryor Chair of Free
Enterprise.

Kerr, who has extensive experience as a risk analyst in the corporate
world, received his doctorate in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin at
Madison and earned his M.B.A. from Temple University in 1995 and a
bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Previously,
Padmanabhan was an associate professor of finance at San Diego State
University.
He has a Ph.D. and M.B.A. from McGill University (Montreal) in 1988 and
1978, respectively, along with a bachelor’s degree in technology from the
Indian Institute of Technology in 1975.

From the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Eva Paulino Bueno,
Ph.D., assistant professor of foreign languages, and Master Sgt. Robert
Juarez, senior military instructor in military science, have been appointed.

Bueno, who is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, received her Ph.D.
from the University of Pittsburgh, master’s degree from Universidade
Federal do Rio de Janeiro and bachelor’s degree from Universidade Estadual
de Maringa-Brazil. Juarez earned the military occupational skill (MOS) 13 F
Fire Support Specialist.

New faculty members from the School of Science, Engineering and Technology
are Diana M. Avila, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences;
Pamela K. Fink, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science; and Anna
Lurie, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics.

Avila, who completed a senior postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of
Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, received her doctoral degree from
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1994 and a
bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s in 1986. Fink, a research and development
specialist in artificial intelligence for 10 years at Southwest Research
Institute, received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 1993 and a master’s
degree in 1991, in addition to her bachelor’s degree from Eckerd University
in 1989. Lurie, who was a visiting professor at St. Mary’s during the
2000-2001 academic year, earned her doctorate at the University of Maryland
and a master’s from Kharkov State University in 1994, where she also
received her bachelor’s in 1993.

Celebrating the Sesquicentennial anniversary of its founding by French
brothers of the Society of Mary (the Marianists) in 1852 in downtown San
Antonio, St. Mary’s is the oldest Catholic university in Texas and the
Southwest. Educating in community and working to build community are among
the most distinctive features of St. Mary’s, nationally recognized for
academic excellence and service to society.

Back to top