Bethany Aiena (Class of 2011)

Dr. Bethany Aiena is the Associate Director for the Behavioral Health Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Mississippi in 2017. Her favorite honors classes at Lamar University included Extremist Literature with Dr. Steve Zani and History of Rock ‘n’ Roll with Dr. Kevin Dodson. Her favorite things about the Reaud Honors College were the lifelong friends she made and gaining leadership skills while serving on the executive committee for the Honors Student Association. She is currently the National Coordinator for the National Diversity Video-Telehealth Seminar for Psychology Residents for Veterans Affairs. She enjoys hiking, playing video games and spending time with friends and family. [LinkedIn]

Lindsey Cauthen (Class of 2007)

Dr. Lindsey (Cauthen) Minter is principal of Career Services at Baylor College of Medicine and an independent scientific consultant and educator specializing in cancer biology, genetics and therapeutics based out of Houston, Texas. She actively involves students in her work via experiential learning program projects and is continuously learning from her pupils. Her favorite honors class at Lamar University was Honors Psychology with the late Dr. Oney Fitzpatrick. Her memorable experiences as an honors program student include traveling to several national and international conferences where she presented her research and participating in an undergraduate research project to understand the underlying mechanisms and possible therapies for neuroblastoma with faculty mentor Dr. Ana Christensen and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Her dissertation centered on a genetic mouse model of spontaneous metabolic misregulation and inflammatory processes leading to hepatocellular carcinoma. She enjoys traveling, CrossFit, cooking flavorful and healthy recipes and working to learn all of the parts of the Millennium Falcon (as well as every other ship and Star Wars character) with her favorite and most inquisitive student, her son, Drew. [LinkedIn]

Daniel Chand (Class of 2002)

Dr. Daniel “Danny” Chand is an associate professor of political science and public administration at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. His research and publications cover U.S. immigration enforcement and political activities of nonprofits.  While at Lamar University (1998-02), he studied Communication, focusing on Journalism and served as editor of the Lamar University newspaper, the University Press. In the summer of 2001, he took his favorite course titled, “Human Nature and the Human Condition,” taught by future Reaud Honors College Dean Dr. Kevin Dodson. (He still possesses the notes and syllabus for the class.) After graduating from Lamar University, he worked for multiple progressive organizations in the southern U.S. From 2006-08, he served as U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. He earned his master’s in political science from Illinois State University in 2005 and Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in public policy in 2013. Danny is an outdoor enthusiast, who loves activities such as biking, hiking and camping. He is also an avid runner with the current goal to complete a race in every state in the country. [Faculty Page]

Josh Daspit (Class of 2004)

Dr. Joshua J. Daspit is an assistant professor of management in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University. His research interests include examining family firms, social capital and innovation. While a student at Lamar University, he had the opportunity to participate in the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation’s New Politics Forum (held at the University of Texas at Austin), present research at meetings of the National Collegiate Honors Council and the Great Plains Honors Council Research Conference and be involved in the Washington Center’s Conference on Politics and the Media (in Washington, D.C.) — all of which were opportunities afforded through the Reaud Honors College (then the Honors Program). It was also through the Honors Program that he was introduced to research. Now, he has more than 30 publications that have appeared in prominent outlets in the management discipline. He currently serves as associate editor of Journal of Family Business Strategy, serves as social media editor of Family Business Review and is on the editorial review board of Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice and several other academic journals. Prior to joining academia, he worked as a senior consultant for an international consulting firm and served as director of community affairs for a member of the United States Congress. You can follow him on Twitter (@joshdaspit) or connect with him on LinkedIn. [Faculty Page]

Christine Felix (Class of 2011)

Dr. Christine (Felix) Herndon graduated from Lamar University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and minor in biology. She attended the University of Texas School of Dentistry and completed her doctorate of dental surgery in 2015. She loved her time as a Reaud Honors College student and really enjoyed her Honors Architecture course with Dr. Catalina Castillón and Inorganic Chemistry course with Dr. Dale Ortego. She also served as vice president of the Honors Student Association and headed the homecoming committee. She is currently practicing dentistry at Carus Dental in Austin, Texas. She enjoys traveling with her husband and eating various cuisine. She loves to cook, read, play tennis and watch Houston Rockets basketball. She is a sucker for psychological thrillers, but also loves mystery and fiction. She also enjoys competitive game nights with friends!

Daniel Grooms (Class of 2002)

Dr. Daniel Grooms is a technology leader at Celanese in Clear Lake, Texas. He previously worked at Nouryon and Invista as a process and production engineer. He participated in a major project at Invista to transition a production unit to a new catalyst system, which involved extensive retrofits to the existing equipment. At Nouryon, he participated in a company-wide process safety team that visited the various sites to evaluate process safety systems and share best practices. After graduating from Lamar University in 2002, Daniel obtained his Ph.D. from Texas A&M and his dissertation was titled, "Optimizing the Design, Operation, & Scheduling of Unsteady-state Processes.” His favorite honors classes at Lamar University were Honors English with Dr. Dale Priest and Honors Philosophy with Dr. Kevin Dodson. Some memorable experiences in what was then the Honors Program include serving on the inaugural Honors Student Advisory Council and participating in an undergraduate research project with Dr. Daniel Chen to study a catalyst that could remove chemicals in vapor streams using UV light. Daniel enjoys Star Wars, reading science fiction and history and building his own space program on the computer.

Carolina Ramirez Cardenas (Class of 2010)

Carolina Ramirez Cardenas currently serves as deputy director of State Partnerships at Movement Voter Project. She began organizing in her rural town to create solidarity between marginalized communities and has organized for social justice issues nationally and locally for 10 years — and was among the young people who helped win DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) that would positively impact more than 750,000 young people and their communities. Before joining MVP, she managed national programs in New Mexico, Missouri and Arizona, and was among the co-founders of the Houston chapter of United We Dream. One of her memorable experiences as a Reaud Honors College student was learning how to conduct undergraduate research with faculty mentor Dr. Catalina Castillón. Her favorite honors classes at Lamar University included Philosophy of Knowledge with Dr. Kevin Dodson and Anthropology with Dr. Donna Birdwell. She enjoys getting to know people, hiking, dancing to almost anything with a good beat and weight lifting while geeking out to audiobooks about financial independence or nutrition. [LinkedIn]

Kayleigh Romero (Class of 2013)

Kayleigh Romero is a 12th grade Path, College, Career teacher at Beaumont Early College High School. She previously taught mathematics at various grade ranges between 3rd-8th grades. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies (Math 4-8) as a Mirabeau Scholar and her M.Ed. in Educational Technology Leadership as a Jean & Rudy Williams Excellence Scholar from Lamar University. She is currently pursuing her Ed.D. in Instructional Systems Design and Technology at Sam Houston State University. Her favorite honors classes at Lamar University include Popular Music with Dr. Kevin Dodson and her Honors U.S. History classes. Her memorable experiences as an honors student include serving as the vice president and student government representative for the Honors Student Association, serving as a Lamar University Ambassador and participating in volunteer opportunities. She enjoys collecting and reading books, hiking, art, crochet and looks forward to resuming her travels. [CV]

Brittany Ross (Class of 2011)

Brittany (Ross) Cammack has been practicing as a physical therapist ever since she obtained her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from Duke University in 2014. She is currently working in the pediatric home health setting with RiverKids Pediatric Home Health and in the adult inpatient rehab setting with Post Acute Medical in Houston, Texas. In 2016, she completed her training and certification in Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT), which is a clinical approach and research-informed practice model for rehabilitation of individuals with neurological pathophysiology. Her favorite honors class at Lamar was Honors Philosophy with Dr. Kevin Dodson. Her most memorable experiences as a Reaud Honors College student include volunteering on the Relay for Life honors team and participating in an undergraduate research project examining the effects of positive vs. negative verbal feedback on exercise performance. She enjoys spending quality time with her husband, son and cat, serving at her local church and hiking in the national parks. [LinkedIn]

Brandan Still (Class of 2006)

Brandan Still is a partner in the Houston office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. His legal practice primarily consists of representing financial institutions and borrowers in connection with lending transactions. He began his legal career with Ropes & Gray in New York after graduating from Harvard Law School. While earning his BBAs in management and economics at Lamar, his favorite honors classes included a summer Sociology class co-led by Dr. Birdwell, Dr. Dodson and Dr. Wright, as well as Honors Humanities in the Arts with Dr. Gilman, where Brandan met his wife. He enjoys amateur meteorology, nature photography, reading anything by Terry Pratchett and going on hikes with his son and wife.