RTF Staff

Rachel Walker

Administrative Manager
E-mail: rachel.walker@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120D
Phone: 512-471-4058

Spring 2022 Schedule:

• On Campus: Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (9 am–6 pm)
• Remote: Monday & Friday (8 am–5 pm)

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, faculty promotion and award nominations, and miscellaneous projects of all kinds. Rachel also works closely 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, sheep, honeybees and Great Pyrenees dogs.

 

Wendy Stuessy

Financial Analyst
E-mail: Wendy.stuessy@austin.utexas.edu
Office: Remote
Phone: 512-471-4136

Spring 2022 Schedule:

• Remote: M–F (6:30 am–3:30 pm)

Wendy serves as a full-time accountant and purchaser for all the department accounts.

Teresa Warner

Office Manager
E-mail: teresa.warner@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120
Phone: 512-471-4191

Spring 2022 Schedule:

• On Campus: Monday–Thursday (9 am–6 pm); Friday ( 9 am–2pm)
• Remote: Friday (3 pm–6 pm)

Beginning in February 2022, RTF's office manager Teresa Warner serves as the first point of contact with students, faculty, visitors, and the general public, responding to inquiries via department phones, email, and walk-in traffic. For RTF students, she helps them find campus filming locations and obtain production insurance, and she manages the student engagement website/social media pages. For faculty, she provides support with obtaining room keys and business cards and organizing calendars, course instructor surveys, grade reporting, and peer teaching reviews. RTF's physical space is her domain as well, as she manages room reservations, furniture requests, office equipment maintenance, and supply orders.

Teresa received her MFA in Screenwriting from The University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film in 2014. She’s worked in LA for the NFL Network and the DGA, but was called back to Austin by breakfast tacos.  She’s excited to be a part of the department again and looks forward to working with and supporting the faculty, staff, and students.

Lee Sparks

Administrative Associate/Media Librarian
E-mail: Lee.Sparks@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.120B
Phone: 512-471-1906 

Spring 2022 Schedule:

• On Campus: Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (9 am–6 pm); Friday ( 9 am–2pm)
• Remote: Thursday (9 am–6 pm); Friday (3 pm–6 pm)

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.

Mallory Nimis

Graduate Coordinator
E-mail: mallory.nimis@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.116
Phone: 512-471-3532

Spring 2022 Schedule:

• On Campus: Monday–Wednesday (9 am–6 pm); Friday (9 am–2 pm)
• Remote: Thursday (9 am–6 pm); Friday (3 pm–6 pm)

Mallory Nimis began working as the RTF Graduate Coordinator in January 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. With an advanced degree in International Education Management, she comes to RTF after seven years in higher education administration. She spent the previous four years as the UT Austin Education Abroad Program Coordinator, managing the recruitment, advising, selection, and orientation for a large portfolio of UT students.

In her spare time, Mallory enjoys Francophone films and playing pickleball.

Elana Wakeman

Senior Programs & Communications Coordinator
E-mail: ewakeman@austin.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 6.104
Phone: 512-471-6617

Spring 2022 Schedule

• On Campus: Monday (1:30 pm–5:30 pm); Tuesday & Thursday (1–5 pm)
• Remote: Monday–Friday (8 am–12 pm); Wednesday & Friday (1–5 pm)

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. RTF feels like home to her: she has a background in film and worked in the industry in various roles after earning her M.F.A. in film production from Florida State University. She also holds a B.A. in English, with a concentration in film studies, from Duke University. Before coming to the department in August of 2012, she worked as Publications Manager at UT's Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk. In her spare time, she has been studying Hakomi, a form of mindfulness-based psychotherapy and raising her energetic son.