Faculty & Staff

  • Dr. Amy Richardson is a white woman with long, dark, wavy hair, parted near the middle and styled to fall over her shoulders. She smiling and wearing a black top and gray blazer, photographed from the waist up outdoors on campus with walkways, grass, and a building softly blurred in the background.

     Dr. Amy Richardson

    Director, President's Scholars Program

    Dr. Amy Richardson is the Director of the President’s Scholars Program. Dr. Richardson graduated with a B.A in History from Texas Christian University. She earned a M.Ed. from Rutgers University with a special focus on Social Studies Education and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Southern Methodist University. After working as a high school history and English teacher, she joined the Department of Teaching and Learning in the SMU Simmons School of Education in 2015 as clinical faculty. For five years, Dr. Richardson served as the Director of Teacher Preparation. Her areas of expertise include teacher education, social studies education, and the use of technology, specifically mixed reality simulations, to support teacher learning and development.

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  • Dr. Kobylka is a white man with short, light-colored hair wearing a dark suit jacket, light blue dress shirt, and burgundy tie. He is smiling while seated in an office with books, papers, and framed artwork visible in the background.

    Dr. Joe Kobylka

    President's Scholars Program Advisor
    Associate Professor
    Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Chair in the Department of Political Science
    Dedman School of Humanities and Sciences 

    Joe Kobylka became the President’s Scholars faculty sponsor coordinator in 2008. He is an inaugural member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, and an associate professor of Political Science. His teaching and research interests include the areas of constitutional law, judicial politics, and American political thought. The Teaching Company published his lecture series “Cycles of American Political Thought” in 2007, and had a featured interview on PBS’s “The Supreme Court” (2007). He has received a number of honors and awards including: the “M” Award, the Willis M. Tate Award, the Rotunda Outstanding Professor Award, Distinguished University Citizen Award, H.O.P.E. Distinguished Professor Award, SMU Student Senate Faculty Member of the Year Award, Bridge Committee Award, and the Deshner Award.

    He also owns and manages a competitive fantasy baseball team, Publius.

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  • Dr. Nils Van den Steen is a white man with glasses, short brown hair, and a short beard and mustache. He is dressed in a white button-down shirt and dark plaid patterned vest, standing outside in front of trees

    Dr. Nils Van den Steen 

    President's Scholars Program Advisor
    Clinical Professor, Information Technology and Operations Management
    Cox School of Business

    Dr. Nils Van den Steen holds the position of Associate Director for the Commercial Diplomacy Initiative at the SMU Cox School of Business. His rich background spans operations and supply-chain management, with a PhD in Business Economics, and a particular proficiency in process digitalization. He applies this wealth of knowledge to bring a well-researched perspective to creative collaboration.

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