Lynda Y. De La Vina, a former deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury, has been appointed associate dean and director of SPSBE's Graduate Division of Business and Management. Most recently, De La Vina was senior policy adviser to the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

"In addition to exceptional government service, Lynda De La Vina's extraordinary experience in business and education--as co-founder of a technology company and as an associate dean of business at the University of Texas in San Antonio--brings tremendous depth and expertise to our Graduate Division of Business and Management," says Ralph Fessler, dean of the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. "This division's innovative programs and outreach to the region's business community are certain to expand and develop under Dr. De La Vina's leadership."

De La Vina received her bachelor's degree in economics and government at the University of Texas Pan American. When she obtained her doctorate in economics at Rice University, she became the first Mexican-American woman to receive that degree in the United States.

At the University of Texas in San Antonio, De La Vina was a professor of economics, executive director of the Institute for Business Studies and associate dean for graduate studies and research in the College of Business.

In 1986 De La Vina co-founded Operational Technologies Corp. in San Antonio and until 1998 was secretary of its board of directors.

From 1998 to 2001, she served as deputy assistant secretary for economic policy coordination in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She also served as an adviser on U.S. and global economic policy.