Dr. Juan Dominguez is the Vice Provost for Academic, Curricular and Career Innovation. In addition to his role as Vice Provost, he is an award-winning professor of psychology, pharmacology, and neuroscience and a highly published and highly cited research scientist.

Dr. Dominguez’s scientific accomplishments are evidenced in over 50 publications, research grants, including those from the National Institutes of Health, and numerous awards related to his research on the brain’s regulation of motivated behaviors and associated disorders, such as addiction. His love of science carries over into his love of teaching, which has been recognized by several teaching awards, including the Ann Repp Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Texas 10 Award distinction of “most inspiring professor,” and, most recently, the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award.

Prior to his appointment as Vice Provost, Dr. Dominguez held several leadership positions. He served as director of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) in the psychology department. The SURE program is an internship program that supports underrepresented undergraduate students who are interested in psychological research. He also served as undergraduate, and, subsequently, graduate advisor for the psychology department. He continues to serve as minority liaison for the Neuroscience Department. In addition, from 2012-2014, he was Chair of the Behavioral Neuroscience Program. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, he chaired a task force on “Traditional Graduate Programs in a Covid-19 Environment.” This task force tackled, among several issues, matters related to curriculum management for graduate training in the face of a pandemic when returning to campus. On the national stage, Dr. Dominguez has served on several grant-review panels for the National Science Foundation and served and chaired grant-review panels for the National Institutes of Health. Until recently, he also chaired a committee on research ethics for the American Psychological Association.

In his capacity as Vice Provost, Dr. Dominguez oversees The University of Texas’ curriculum and assessment, the First Year and Transfer Year Experience, Texas Career Engagement, and UT’s Launchpad Programs.