Peggy Eighmy
UTSA
Peggy Eighmy is the First Lady of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a passionate advocate for children in the foster care system and young adults with a history of foster care. Peggy has worked in child welfare and child advocacy roles in Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas. She conceptualized and sought public funding for the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success Pilot Project (“Pilot Project.”) The Texas Legislature appropriated $3.5M for the Pilot which works to improve college enrollment, retention and graduation rates for students with a history of foster care, and to increase the number of children in foster care who are college aware, expect to attend college, and are emotionally and academically ready to do so. This first of its kind public appropriation will inform practice and policy in Texas and nationally.
Peggy serves on the Executive Committee of the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success Pilot Project. She is a tri-chairperson for Senator Jose Menendez’s Blue-Ribbon Task Force on Child Abuse Prevention and as serves as tri-chairperson for the Child Welfare/Foster Care Workgroup of the South Texas Trauma-Informed Care Consortium. Peggy is a board member for Texas CASA, the Najim Charitable Foundation and ChildSafe. She also serves on the Family Tapestry Advisory Council, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County’s Ready Children Impact Council, and the NXT Level Youth Reengagement Center Advisory Council. She is a Court Appointed Special Advocate and member of Impact SA, a women’s collective giving, grant-making nonprofit organization serving the greater San Antonio area.
Peggy is a first-generation American and a first-generation college student. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She served as President of the University of New Hampshire Foundation and is an emeritus director. Her husband, Dr. Taylor Eighmy, is the President of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Taylor and Peggy are the proud parents of Hannah, a graduate of Boston College and operating room nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Tammy Wyatt
UTSA
Dr. Tammy Wyatt attended Sam Houston State University, Texas State University, and the University of Texas at Austin for her undergraduate and graduate degrees. Dr. Wyatt served as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Success in the COEHD (2009-2012), the inaugural Associate Dean for University College (2012-2016), the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success (2016-2018), and the Associate Vice President for Student Academic Success (2018-2019).
Currently, Dr. Wyatt serves as the Vice Provost for Student Success (2019-present). In this role, Dr. Wyatt serves as the chief student success officer for the university and oversees multiple university-wide student success programs and initiatives within the realms of academic advising, academic success and support, and student engagement and belonging. Additionally, she serves as the PI for two UT System Quantum Leap student success funded projects – (1) Project LEAD (Leadership, Engagement, Academics, and Dedication): Onboarding and Bridging to Improve Student Success, Retention, and Graduation and (2) Resolving Roadblocks to Timely Graduation: Implementing Graduation Help Desks across the University of Texas System.
Devon Jefferson
UTSA
Megan Piel
UTSA
Dr. Megan Piel is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for youth and families involved in the foster care system, with specific attention to foster youth transitioning to adulthood and post-secondary education. She has published and presented research at local, state, and national conferences regarding campus-based support programs for students with a history of foster care, lessons learned in program development and evaluation, and opportunities for enhanced support at both 2 and 4-year institutions.
Dr. Piel served on the planning committee for the Inaugural National Conference for Engaged Scholarship on Foster Alumni this past February and is the Lead Evaluator for the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success Pilot Project.
Barbara Schafer
College Bound Docket
Barbara Schafer is the current court administrator for Bexar County Children’s Court Division & Programs. Barbara has worked in the field of child welfare her entire career, first as a caseworker and supervisor at Child Protective Services, Family Drug Court Director and now Court Administrator. Barbara has a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology; certification in criminal justice; certification in domestic and family violence and a Master’s in Social Work.
Barbara applies expert knowledge, experience, and passion to help children.
Barbara works within the community and government officials to develop and initiate innovative programs for youth and families in the foster care system. Barbara has developed and implemented Infant and Toddler Court, Family Preservation Docket, PMC Project, PEARLS Court, College-Bound Docket and Guardianship Docket. Additionally, Barbara has fulfilled the standards of best practices to the existing Family Drug Court and Children’s Court which has a docket of more than 10,000 court hearings a year.
Dr. Angela White
CASA
Dr. Angela White is from the United Kingdom and came to Houston, Texas, in 2007 and moved to San Antonio in 2012. She is proud to be a dual citizen in her adopted home. She and her husband have a blended family of four adult children, three dogs and a parrot.
The majority of her career has been in the corporate world and ranges from finance to major IT implementations, creating a training division, manufacturing, production and shipping and running international customer service teams. Throughout her career, she has mentored and coached teams and individuals, so starting a Life coaching business in the UK, was a natural fit. She worked with corporate and private clients to ensure successful results.
In 2020, she completed an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Home, a not-for-profit focused on the treatment of substance use, for women. She then took a hard and bold decision to join Chosen Care, as their Chief Operating Officer. This move was due to her passion for the welfare of children and the personal connection she has in the field.
Now as the President and CEO of Child Advocates San Antonio (CASA), she truly feels this is her forever home. The not-for-profit sector is challenging and worth every minute of the dedication it takes, as she truly knows she is making a difference. She is driven by a desire for all people to know that they can choose a fulfilling life.
Kimberly Nanez
Texas A&M
Kimberley Nañez earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in History in spring 2003 from Texas A&M University and her Master of Arts degree in History in spring 2005 from the University of Texas at San Antonio. From 2005-2007, she worked as an adjunct History instructor at San Antonio College. From 2007-2015, Kim worked as an academic advisor I, II, III, IV at the University of Texas at San Antonio in the College of Sciences. In 2015, Kim transitioned to the role of the Executive Director of the Student Academic Success Center at Texas A&M University-San Antonio managing academic coaching, tutoring services, supplemental instruction, the Testing Center, Texas Success Initiative, theDream.US scholars, and foster services.
During her tenure as an academic advisor in the College of Sciences, Kim took on two instrumental roles within the Center; the trainer and the advisor for at-risk students. Kim also supervised the academic advisor I and II roles in the Center. She developed a program for at-risk students that earned the NACADA 2012 program award. These skills from this program were instrumental in Kim transitioning to her role at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
In March 2015, Kim transitioned to her role as the Director of the Student Academic Success Center. In this role, Kim was an integral part of the comprehensive expansion as A&M-San Antonio went from a 2 year (upper division) institution to a 4 year institution. During this expansion, Kim hired a team to create academic coaching, tutoring services, and the Testing Center. In 2016, she became one of the foster liaisons for A&M-San Antonio and the scholar advisor for theDream.US scholar program.
Kim is currently working in the division of Academic Affairs as the Executive Director of the Student Academic Success Center. In this role, Kim helped A&M-San Antonio grow theDream.US scholar program from 2 students to over 150 students. In 2021, Kim was awarded a $120,000 grant from Blue Meridian. The grant focused on supporting Dreamer students on the A&M-San Antonio Campus. Under Kim’s leadership at A&M-SA has built Dreamers supports from emergency funds, Fellowships for undocumented students, and DACA scholarships because of the grant. In 2019, A&M-San Antonio was awarded $130,000 in grants for foster youth. This grant is called the Bexar County Fostering Education and Success (BCFES) program. A&M-San Antonio is a partner with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Alamo Colleges, the Bexar County Court System, DFPS, and CASA. All of these entities work in conjunction with each other to support foster youth transitioning to college. A&M-San Antonio has been awarded $130,000 every year since 2019 and the grant is now in the base budget of UTSA. Kim and her team manage the grant at A&M-San Antonio which has helped the foster program grow from 49 students to over 100.
Letica Duncan-Bronson
Alamo Community College District
Dr. Brosnan attended St. Mary’s University for her Bachelor’s degree in Multinational Organization Studies, her Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and her PhD in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University- College Station. Dr. Brosnan has over 34 years of experience as an educator and counselor working with community-based Federal TRIO Programs, the Alamo Colleges, and at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She specializes in student success and support programs. She is a graduate of Leadership UTSA and WPASA – Women’s Professional Academic and Synergistic Leadership Academy. She has been awarded with the Leadership Award, the Student Affairs Award, the Ambassadors Award, and the University Diversity Award. She has worked on several community-level and university-level committees to support diversity and also student success. Dr. Brosnan is the District-Wide Director for the Student Advocacy Network in the office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success at the Alamo Colleges District. This position allows her to bring her experience to advocate for students and bring additional resources to support their success at the Alamo Colleges.