Dr. Margaret Graham, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, was appointed as UTRGV's Faculty Athletics Representative in July 2021.
Graham serves as a liaison between the university and the athletics department, and as a representative of the university in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and NCAA affairs.
She also functions as Chair of the Athletics Council and a member of the mental health task force while advising the student-athlete advisory committee. Actively engaging with administrators and coaches, Dr. Graham monitors the student-athlete experience and is involved in their personal and academic welfare. She also assists in preparing any requests for waivers or appeals regarding NCAA or WAC legislation.
Graham has been working at the university since 2005, when she joined legacy institution The University of Texas Pan American (UTPA) as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Anthropology. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and became Assistant Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in 2013. She also simultaneously served as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion & Community Health Sciences at Texas A&M from 2012-15.
In 2015, with the start of UTRGV, Graham took on the role of Coordinator of the Anthropology Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Anthropology programs. She was promoted to Professor in 2016 and took over as Interim Chair of the newly created Department of Anthropology in 2019. She became Chair in 2020.
Among Graham’s honors and distinctions are the 2014 College Faculty Excellence Award for Mentoring and the 2009 Provost’s Award for Latin American Studies. She was a member of the Leadership Team for the UTRGV ADVANCE Program from 2012-2018.
Graham earned her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with Distinction while also completing a certificate in Latin American Studies at Indiana University in 1980. She completed a Master of Arts in Anthropology at Michigan State in 1985 before earning her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State in 1991.
