Aggie Park

Monday Lunch | Mr. Manny Vela and Dr. Sandra Hansmann

Introduction of the Higher Education Center at McAllen and Degree Programs

About the Speakers

Mr. Manny Vela - Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Academic Affairs, Higher Education Center at TAMU McAllen. 

Dr. Sandra Hansmann - Assistant Provost of the TAMU - Higher Education Center at McAllen.

Dr. Sandra Hansmann has been named Assistant Provost for the Texas A&M University Higher Education Center at McAllen (HECM) effective August 1, 2024. In this position, she will support home departments with HECM programs through academic coordination, campus resources and student activities to ensure students have an excellent Aggie experience. She will also promote community relations to raise awareness of the HECM in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.

Dr. Hansmann is a native of San Antonio, Texas, and has lived and worked in the Valley since 2005, when she joined the faculty at The University of Texas Pan American. Dr. Hansmann most recently served as the Associate Dean of the Graduate College at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley since August 2018. She has held leadership roles in several departments and divisions there over the last 18 years, including roles in academic and student affairs, admissions and enrollment, research, program development, and international programs.

Dr. Hansmann has served as a consulting, collaborating, or first author and director/principal investigator for over $6 million in state and federal funding. Her scholarly work has focused on individuals with disabilities and her research interests include applied and professional ethics and the intersectionality of disability and artificial intelligence. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor and received her B.A. in behavioral sciences from Concordia University Texas in 1990. She earned an M.Ed. in special education with a focus in rehabilitation counseling in 1993 and her Ph.D. in special education with a focus in counselor education in 2000, both at The University of Texas at Austin.

Monday Lunch