Dr. Aliza S. Wong

Interim Dean of the Honors College

Professor of History and Director of European Studies

Dr. Aliza Wong is Interim Dean of the Honors College at Texas Tech University, where she also serves as Professor of History and Director of European Studies. She joined the Honors College administration in 2014 and has taught in the Department of History since 2001.

A dedicated teacher, Dr. Wong has received numerous teaching awards, including the Texas Tech University System’s highest teaching honor, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She has also been recognized for her leadership in diversity and inclusion initiatives across the university.

Dr. Wong is a specialist in modern Italian history focusing on race, nationalism, and identity. She is the author of Race and Nation in Liberal Italy, 1861–1911: Meridionalism, Empire, and Diaspora and is a two-time Fulbright Scholar.

Dr. Tara Stevens

Professor of Educational Psychology

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Counseling

Dr. Tara Stevens is a professor of Educational Psychology and a licensed specialist in school psychology (LSSP) in Texas. Her research has focused on factors that influence mathematics achievement, including student motivation, efficacy beliefs, and interest theory.

She has also studied the effects of television viewing, ADHD, and physical activity on student learning. More recently, her research has expanded to explore teacher trauma and its impact within classroom and school environments.

Dr. Stevens has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the American Educational Research Association, and the Mathematical Association of America. She currently serves as the Ombudsperson for Texas Tech University.

Dr. Magdalena Toda

Professor of Mathematics

Chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Dr. Magdalena Toda joined Texas Tech University in 2001 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor shortly after completing her Ph.D. in Mathematics. She became a full Professor of Mathematics in 2014 and has served as department chair since 2016.

As chair, she has overseen significant faculty growth, hiring dozens of faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and staff. She has also guided numerous faculty through tenure and promotion processes.

Dr. Toda’s research focuses on differential geometry and nonlinear partial differential equations, including work on geometric flows and Willmore-type energies related to biological membranes and proteins. She has published two books and more than forty research articles.

She has organized Emmy Noether High School Mathematics Day for more than fifteen years and has served as principal or co-principal investigator on externally funded grants exceeding $1.3 million.