Dr. Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres

Professor of Economics and Dean of Undergraduate Education

Mary McDermott Cook Distinguished Chair for Undergraduate Education and Research

Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres is professor of economics and political economy. In 2010, she accepted an appointment as the dean of Undergraduate Education.

Piñeres' research focuses primarily on the economic development of Latin America, especially Mexico, with an emphasis on macroeconomic trade issues and the role of international liberalization of trade and financial policies in maintaining sustainable economic growth.

Since joining UT Dallas in 1996, Piñeres has served as associate dean for undergraduate education in EPPS and as head of the public policy and political economy program. She directed the Office of Enrollment Services from 2006 to 2008, while serving as associate provost. In 2010, she served as interim dean of libraries.

During 2009, she led an initiative to secure UT Dallas' presence at the Collin Higher Education Center in McKinney, a partnership among UT Dallas, Collin College and four other area universities.

Piñeres sees all aspects of her work as essential to excellence in undergraduate education. Under her tenure, the Office of Undergraduate Education helped launch a student research journal, The Exley, in 2011.

"Undergraduate research has the potential to be a defining experience in a student's academic career. It allows them the opportunity to explore new ideas and concepts while learning how to test them," Piñeres said.

Piñeres received her PhD in economics from Duke University in 1992 and joined UT Dallas in 1996, coming from a faculty position at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She is the author of Guns, Drugs & Development in Colombia with Kevin M. Curtin and fellow EPPS professor Jennifer Holmes. She also is the author or co-author of numerous articles on such topics as development economics, international economics and Latin America.

Piñeres was among 38 recipients of the 2010 UT System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award for tenured faculty. Last year she participated in the prestigious American Council of Education Fellows program.

Piñeres is currently president of the Midwest Association of Latin American Studies.