New Interim Dean and Department Chair

February 16, 2026

Stockli Named Interim Dean

Danny Stockli has been named the interim dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences. He takes the place of Claudia Mora, who stepped down as dean in January at the end of her six-year tenure.

Stockli is a pillar of the school’s leadership team, having served as the chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences since 2021. As chair, Stockli led the name change for the department, oversaw the launch of the first climate system science degree in Texas, and expanded the department’s research capabilities in the important fields of critical minerals and artificial intelligence applications for geosciences. Stockli played a pivotal role in overhauling the school’s undergraduate curriculum and more than doubling the undergraduate student enrollment. He also helped bring in a cohort of new faculty to the Jackson School with great disciplinary range.

Stockli joined The University of Texas at Austin as a full professor in 2011. His research and laboratory integrate structural geology with isotopic age dating to understand when geological and plate tectonic events occurred. He holds the Bookout Endowed Chair in Structural Geology and is the director of the UTChron Laboratory.

Flemings Named Interim Department Chair

Professor Peter Flemings was appointed interim chair of the Jackson School of Geosciences Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences by Danny Stockli, the former department chair who vacated the position to lead the Jackson School as interim dean.

The department is a research unit and the academic core of the Jackson School. It is home to over 55 faculty members and more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students.

Flemings is a lauded professor and the current holder of the Leonidas T. Barrow Centennial Chair in Mineral Resources. He is the leader of the research consortium UT GeoFluids, which studies pore pressure and fluid flow in basins, and the co-leader of the GeoMechanics laboratory, which studies the properties of earth materials.