Roles and Responsibilities of Honors College Faculty Fellows
(A) Honors Faculty Fellows will meet the following expectations:
- Serve as mentors to senior Honors Scholars in preparation for their Senior Thesis;
- Assist with career counseling/mentoring for Honors College Scholars in their departments or related departments;
- Promote the Honors College before potential students, potential benefactors, and other publics;
- Assists the Honors College with writing grant proposals.
(B) Benefits to fellows for their contributions to students and the Honors College include:
- The opportunity to help some of the most intellectually gifted students on campus to graduate and become leaders locally, nationally, and globally;
- Assistance from Honors College scholars in their research, creative, professional and service projects;
Current Honors Faculty Fellows
Dr. Tanya Allen is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Texas Southern University. Prior to joining the faculty in the fall of 2016, she observed and evaluated alternative certification teachers and provided music instruction to public school students. She completed her Master’s and Doctorate degree in Music Education at Florida State University and her undergraduate degree and teacher certification at the University of New Orleans.
Dr. Willie Capers II, is the Interim Assistant Dean of Student Services and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences where he is responsible for simulation labs and experiential education faculty development and affiliate relations for clinical laboratory science, environmental health, health administration, health information management, pharmacy, and respiratory therapy programs.
Dr. Cavil is a prominent voice on the business and leadership of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and a specialist on the HBCU Sports Culture paradigm. He is the author of Early Athletic Experiences at HBCUs: The Creation of Conferences. From an Africana-centered framework of HBCU athletics, he teaches about consumer behavior in HBCU athletics, strategic management, vision and leadership in HBCU athletic programs, and the contextualization of critical race theory in the Sporting HBCU Diaspora. He has published research articles such as The State of Intercollegiate Athletics at Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs): Past, Present, & Persistence, completed commission studies such as, HBCU (A Minimum of Nine, A Maximum of 12) Football Reclassification & New HBCU FBS Conference Formation Study, presentations such as, Athletic Director’s Leadership Perception of Variable Determining the Effectiveness of Administering HBCU Athletic Programs, and a book chapter titled: The Case for Tennessee State as an expansion member of the SWAC: Economic Impact. Dr. Cavil has written articles for College Sporting News (CSN) and I-AA.org magazines. Recently, Cavil was also one of the four authors among Billy Hawkins, Joseph Cooper, and Akilah Carter-Francique which edited the textbook The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Past, Present, and Persistence. He currently produces Dr. Cavil’s HBCU Sports Top 10 Mid-Major and Major Polls as well as the Dr. Cavil’s ‘Inside the HBCU Sports Lab” radio show. He is a HBCU sport business analyst on several radio programs across the country with the HBCU Sports Report.
Dr. Mayur S. Desai is the 
Dr. Roger Hart is the Director of the China Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Geography at Texas Southern University. 
Dr. Iris M. Lancaster earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M-Commerce in 2009. Her dissertation analyzes the cultural metaphor in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Since receiving her PhD, she has written: “Nanny, Signifying Empowerment: The Evolution of the Dispirited Black Woman in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” published in Cultural Intertexts - Academic Journal of Literary Studies; Queen Sugar: A Book Review published in the CLA Journal; and “The Rose that Grew from a Legacy of Hope: A Study of Tupac Shakur’s Poetry” published in THE GRIOT: The Journal of African American Studies.
Oluponmile Olonilua, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy from Texas Southern University and made history as the first graduate of the program. She also received her Master of Public Administration degree from Texas Southern University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria. Currently, she is the coordinator for the Emergency Management and Homeland Security degree program at Texas Southern University. She is a certified flood plain manager (CFM).
Dr. Yi Qi is the Chair of the Transportation Studies Department and Professor at the Texas Southern University. Her research areas include transportation air quality analysis, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), system performance assessment, roadway geometric design, and transportation safety. As a prolific scholar, she has served as the principal investigator and directed more than 20 externally funded projects sponsored by various federal and local governments. She has over 30 publications in Science Citation Index (SCI) journals, along with more than 50 conference proceeding papers and numerous technical report publications. Dr. Qi is a nationally recognized scholar and has been appointed onto two Transportation Research Board (TRB) committees. She received her Ph.D. in Transportation Planning and Engineering from New York University -Polytechnic Institution.
Dr. Monica L. Rasmus is the Director of the Program in Health Administration and an Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Her research focuses on health care quality and access, health disparities, research for the betterment of the public’s health, and curriculum development for and impediments to student success. Dr. Rasmus has mentored and supervised many students on their research projects, and has received several awards from TSU’s Research Week, including the 2016 first place award for Faculty Presentation (along with co-presenter, Dr. Renard Thomas). She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Baylor University, her Master of Education from the University of Houston, her Master of Business Administration degree from Texas Woman’s University, and her Master and Doctor of Public Health degrees from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.
Dr. Ayodotun Sodipe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology in 2008 and a B.S. in Biology in 1990, from Texas Southern University. Dr. Sodipe has developed and teaches courses in “Biological Sciences” at TSU at both undergraduate and graduate levels where he includes: "Literature review and its interpretations" (BIOL 795) and "Preparation and presentation of projects reports" (BIOL 499). He also serves as an advisor to the large population of Pre-Health professional and undergraduate students. His areas of research are Mycology and Forensic Biology. Dr. Sodipe has published several articles and serves as a reviewer for several journals including NASA EPSCOR and NSF. He is an active member of the College of Science Engineering and Technology Research Committee.
Dr. Chris Chinwe Ulasi is Professor and Chair of the Radio Television and Film (RTF) department and the Coordinator for the Entertainment and Recording Industry Management program, in the School of Communication. Dr. Ulasi has been a professional communicator, scholar, and researcher for over twenty-eight years. He is a screenwriter, producer, and poet. From 1993-1996 he 
Dr. Daniel Vrinceanu is a professor of Physics in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. After obtaining his doctoral degree in Theoretical Atomic Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, he engaged in research at the Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Los Alamos National Laboratory. His research focuses on matter under extreme conditions by using a range of theoretical and computational approaches, including Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Vrinceanu serves as the director of the High Performance Computing