Center for Research Excellence and Innovation

Maribeth F. Jorgensen (she/her), PhD, LPC (TX/SD), LMHC (WA), LIMHP (NE), NCC is a Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at Sam Houston State University (SHSU). She also serves as the Assistant Dean for Research and Faculty Development and the director of the Center for Research Excellence at SHSU. Her primary area of scholarship is researcher development, with a focus on researcher identity development and research training. Maribeth primarily teaches research and clinical courses. In addition to her work as a counselor educator, she has been a licensed professional counselor since 2006 and sees individuals experiencing death and nondeath losses. 

In her role as the Director of the Research Center she oversees operations, organizes and hosts researcher development workshops, conducts research consultations related to qualitative research and research design, and gathers and disseminates data related to all Center outcomes.

Is an Assistant Director for the College of Education Research Center and Associate Professor at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in the School of Teaching and Learning where she teaches courses in literacy, education research, and curriculum development. She graduated in 2015 from Texas A&M University with her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction focusing on literacy education and Advanced Research Methods. Previously, she worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Alabama before returning to Texas and SHSU. She has published more than 65 scholarly articles and edited/co-edited three handbooks of research. Her research interests include instrument development such rubrics and surveys of teacher beliefs, writing assessment, and student motivation. While her primary interest is in literacy education, she explores the use of reading and writing across all disciplines and has received inter-disciplinary grant funding to explore teacher knowledge of literacy practices, writing in middle and high school science classes, and teacher self-efficacy for integrating literacy across the curriculum. Dr. Hodges has also worked as a writing consultant, helping faculty complete manuscripts and books and scaffolding the dissertation writing process for doctoral students. When she is not teaching and conducting research, she enjoys walking her dogs, playing tennis and pickleball, and reading.

Is a professor in the Department of Public Health at SHSU and serves as Assistant Director for the Research Center. Dr. Joshi obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from Norman J Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. He served as a lead evaluator for CDC funded Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention programs (HDSP) and Diabetes Prevention and Control program (DPCP) in the states of South Carolina, Maine, and Louisiana. In 2006, Dr. Joshi co-authored a manuscript on how-to guide for process evaluation, which has been adopted as a standard protocol by several funded initiatives. He also led the evaluation of teen pregnancy prevention programs in South Carolina, state tobacco prevention program in Maine, and safe and drug-free schools in Louisiana. Dr. Joshi served as the lead epidemiologist for Covid-19 surveillance in Southeast Texas and continues to monitor emerging infectious diseases and sexually transmitted infections in the region. Over the last twenty years, Dr. Joshi has worked on several externally funded research projects and has mentored faculty and students in research initiatives. 

Dr. Joshi offers evaluation consulting for faculty working on grant submissions and funded initiatives requiring evaluation support. Support services include development of logic models, process evaluation, organizational charts, data collection protocols, and plan for continuous quality improvement. He also offers consulting in quantitative data collection, management, and analysis for research projects for both faculty and students.