RTF Staff
In addition to the staff listed below, RTF is fortunate to receive the support of the Moody College technical staff. For information, please see https://moody.utexas.edu/technology/staff.
Administrative Staff
Rachel Walker
Administrative Manager
E-mail: rachel.walker@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120D
Phone: 512-471-4058
New to the department as of January 2017, Rachel Walker assists the Department Chair, managing all of the administrative functions of the Department. She is responsible for the instructional budget, course scheduling, human resource management, department scholarships and internships, faculty promotion and award nominations, and miscellaneous projects of all kinds. Rachel also works closely with the communications coordinator to develop department publications and large-scale events and acts as a liaison with the College's academic advisors for academic planning and course management.
Rachel earned her B.A. in English from the University of Texas. An avid music fan, she can often be found in the front row of a live show around Austin. She lives in a log cabin east of town and loves fussing over her chickens, ducks, cats, honeybees and Great Pyrenees dogs.
Wendy Stuessy
Financial Administrator
E-mail: Wendy.stuessy@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120B
Phone: 512-471-4136
Wendy serves as a full-time accountant and purchaser for all the department accounts.
Marisela Campos
Office Manager
E-mail: marisela.campos@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120
Hours: M-F 8 am - 5 pm
Phone: 512-471-4191
Marisela Campos recently received her B.S. with High Honors from the University of Texas at Austin RTF program in Spring 2019, where she focused on producing. Some of her producing credits include short films, The Adventures of… from director Sophia Loffreda, and The 11th Order from director Joshua DeFour. She is excited to join the department and hopes her unique perspective as a recent graduate will allow her to connect and support faculty, staff, and students.
Lee Sparks
Media Librarian/Administrative Assistant
E-mail: Lee.Sparks@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.168
Hours: M-F 10 am-4 pm
Phone: 471.1906
Lee, a 1997 Summa Cum Laude graduate of RTF, has served as the RTF Media Librarian since 1998. In addition to serving the RTF Graduate and Faculty communities, he coordinates RTF film and video class screenings and is the RTF Media Library purchasing agent. Lee also manages faculty travel, visiting speaker arrangements, reimbursements, pro card purchases, and vendor payments.
Recreationally, Lee is an avid consumer of American comic books and hates the pretentious term 'graphic novel.' When not enjoying genre films from other countries, he cleans up after his cats.
Elana Wakeman
Senior Programs & Communications Coordinator
E-mail: ewakeman@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.104
Phone: 512-471-6617
Elana manages all content updates for the RTF website, coordinates department-sponsored summer camps and workshops, manages social media outreach, coordinates the Longhorn Denius showcase and other RTF initiatives, and produces promotional materials for departmental events.
She comes to RTF after working as Publications Manager at UT's Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk and earning her M.F.A. in film production from Florida State University. She also holds a B.A. in English from Duke University.
Stacy Brodie
Graduate Coordinator
E-mail: stacybrodie@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.116
Phone: 512-471-3532
Stacy joined RTF in September 2019. More details to come!
Bert Herigstad
Administrative Associate
E-mail: bert.herigstad@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120
Hours: on leave for September; 10 hours a week, beginning in October
Before retiring (August 2019), Bert was the office manager for the Department of Radio-Television-Film since the fall of 1997. He will be returning to work with us part-time in October. Bert is most proud of meeting a troubled student or faculty member and leaving them with hope.
Tessandra Lancaster
Assistant Undergraduate Academic Advisor
E-mail: tessandra.lancaster@austin.utexas.edu
Office: BMC 2.504
Phone: 512-475-6374
Tessandra Lancaster has been an Advisor in the Moody College since 2016, first for Communication & Leadership and now for RTF. She received a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in College Student Development from St. Edward’s University. She currently serves as Chair for the Pride and Equity Faculty/Staff Association (PEFSA) here at UT and sits on the Board of Directors for a local non-profit organization.
Some of her many interests include camping, reading, playing video games, attending music festivals, and meditating. She especially enjoys connecting with RTF students about the kinds of media they have been personally affected by.
