University of North Texas 
DMI PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Kara Fulton
Clinical Professor and Department Chair
Program Director, Applied Arts & Sciences
Program Director, Applied Heritage Management minor
Anthropology (cultural and archaeology)
Dr. Fulton is an archaeologist and cultural anthropologist focusing on community identity and shared practices in the past and present. She earned her MA and Ph.D. in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida and her BS in Anthropology from Kent State University. She has been with UNT since Jan. 2019 and is the recipient of the DSI CLEAR Outstanding Online Teacher & Course Award and the UNT Community Award.
The geographic focus of Dr. Fulton's archaeological research is the Maya Lowlands of Belize. Her current research explores how community identities affected the resilience of Classic Maya populations when faced with environmental, political, and economic change. Dr. Fulton's methodological expertise includes geochemistry, microartifact analysis, and quantitative modeling.
Dr. Fulton’s cultural research focuses on high-impact practices in higher education contexts, including in online and face-to-face courses. She’s also interested in approaches to collaboration, drawing from organizational and design anthropology.
Dr. Fulton is an archaeologist and cultural anthropologist focusing on community identity and shared practices in the past and present. She earned her MA and Ph.D. in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida and her BS in Anthropology from Kent State University. She has been with UNT since Jan. 2019 and is the recipient of the DSI CLEAR Outstanding Online Teacher & Course Award and the UNT Community Award.
The geographic focus of Dr. Fulton's archaeological research is the Maya Lowlands of Belize. Her current research explores how community identities affected the resilience of Classic Maya populations when faced with environmental, political, and economic change. Dr. Fulton's methodological expertise includes geochemistry, microartifact analysis, and quantitative modeling.
Dr. Fulton’s cultural research focuses on high-impact practices in higher education contexts, including in online and face-to-face courses. She’s also interested in approaches to collaboration, drawing from organizational and design anthropology.
Thomas Brindle
Program Director, Industrial Distribution
Clinical Associate Professor
Operations Management & Humanitarian Systems
Thomas Ryan Brindle received a DSc from Jacksonville State University in 2023. Dr.
Brindle also has a MS in Supply Chain Management from The University of Texas at Dallas
as well as a BS in Economics from The University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Brindle’s
research includes economic disaster resilience and humanitarian logistics and operations
management.
Featured Publications:
Brindle, T. (2023). Using Industry Sector Entropy to Measure Economic Community Disaster Resilience: Real-World Verification from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dissertation. Jacksonville State University Doctor of Science in Emergency Management Program. Dr. SK Huang, Dissertation Committee Chair.
Brindle, T., Huang, S.K., Wu, H.C., Lu, C.L., Lin, C.C., Jing, C.L., Hung, T.J., & Lindell, M. K. (2022). Households’ Protective Actions in Response to a Night Time Earthquake: The 2018 Eastern Taiwan Earthquake. Conference Paper. ASCE UCLA Lifelines Conference 2021-22. January 31 - February 4 2022.
Featured Publications:
Brindle, T. (2023). Using Industry Sector Entropy to Measure Economic Community Disaster Resilience: Real-World Verification from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dissertation. Jacksonville State University Doctor of Science in Emergency Management Program. Dr. SK Huang, Dissertation Committee Chair.
Brindle, T., Huang, S.K., Wu, H.C., Lu, C.L., Lin, C.C., Jing, C.L., Hung, T.J., & Lindell, M. K. (2022). Households’ Protective Actions in Response to a Night Time Earthquake: The 2018 Eastern Taiwan Earthquake. Conference Paper. ASCE UCLA Lifelines Conference 2021-22. January 31 - February 4 2022.
Agustin Palao Mendizabal
Program Director, Applied Project Design & Analysis
Clinical Assistant Professor
Data Analytics (descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive)
Dr. Palao Mendizabal received his PhD in Public Policy and Political Economy from
the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). He got his BSc in Industrial Engineering
and MSc in Quality Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Dr.
Palao Mendizabal also has a MSc in Financial Analysis from Universidad Carlos III
in Madrid, Spain. He worked as a project manager in the automotive industry, as a
quality control supervisor in the oil industry, and as a risk specialist for the Mexican
Central Bank in a specialized trust fund for rural development.
He has contributed with meaningful insights as a leader, manager, consultant, and specialist in diverse industries, including the public sector in his home country. He has achieved certifications in quality assurance, process auditing, financial risk specialist, teaching, and economic and demographic data analysis. All his experiences serve as a baseline for future collaborations, making them available to colleagues, students, practitioners, and institutions.
He has contributed with meaningful insights as a leader, manager, consultant, and specialist in diverse industries, including the public sector in his home country. He has achieved certifications in quality assurance, process auditing, financial risk specialist, teaching, and economic and demographic data analysis. All his experiences serve as a baseline for future collaborations, making them available to colleagues, students, practitioners, and institutions.
Bill Morgan
Program Director, Project Design & Analysis
Clinical Assistant Professor
Design (architectural, interior, strategic, ethics)
Bill Morgan received his Master of Fine Arts – Design from the University of North
Texas in 2018 and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Houston in 1982.
He is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of North Texas, specializing
in design and design research courses. Mr. Morgan’s research investigates the intricate
interplay between design and ethics and emphasizes designers' profound responsibility
for shaping the natural and built environment.
Elizabeth Ranieri
Program Director, North Texas NOW!
Clinical Assistant Professor
Art and Architectural History of Italy; Sacred Space; Humanities; Management
An art and cultural historian by training, the bulk of Dr. Ranieri's research is focused
on pre- and early modern Italian art and architecture, the science of teaching and
learning about art, and inter- and multidisciplinary collaborations. She and her coauthor,
Scott Hendrix, have recently published a textbook titled Rebirth and Reform: How the
Renaissance Gave Birth to the Reformation, (through Cognella), which begins with the
medieval roots of the Renaissance and Reformation, demonstrating how institutional,
intellectual, artistic, and religious developments coalesced over the centuries into
the changes that affected the globe in the Reformation.
Andrew Snyder
Program Director, Enology & Brewing minor
Clinical Professor
Fermentation Science (Enology and Brewing)
Andrew Snyder, CSS, CSW is the Fermentation Science Professor in the newly established
Enology and Brewing minor at UNT. He has taught in higher education for the past 25
years. Professor Snyder earned three master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma
in Human Relations, Adult Education and Communications. He earned his undergraduate
degree in Business from Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany where
he lived for 14 years. Snyder has twice won teaching innovation awards from the Oklahoma
Association of Community Colleges.
Snyder has served as president of the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Winemakers Association, a member of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association, American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Society of Wine Educators, where he has earned the (CSW) Certified Specialist of Wine and (CSS) Certified Specialist of Spirits accreditations.He holds WSET II certification in spirits. He has served as a wine judge in the Lone Star International Wine Competition.
Snyder has served as president of the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Winemakers Association, a member of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association, American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Society of Wine Educators, where he has earned the (CSW) Certified Specialist of Wine and (CSS) Certified Specialist of Spirits accreditations.He holds WSET II certification in spirits. He has served as a wine judge in the Lone Star International Wine Competition.