Toni Sauncy

Toni Sauncy joined the faculty of Texas Lutheran University as Department Chair of Physics in August 2014. She has been an SPS Chapter Advisor since her first faculty appointment at Western Illinois University in 1998. Sauncy has over 25 years of experience in teaching and research with undergraduate students. She returned to her home state of Texas where she led the Angelo State University SPS to many consecutive Outstanding Chapter awards, and continues that legacy at her current appointment as Professor and Chair of Physics at Texas Lutheran University. She is completing her service in the American Association of Physics Teachers presidential chain, elected as Vice President in 2019 and now completing her year as Past President on the AAPT Executive Board. Sauncy took a small break from her academic career to serve as the Director of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) and Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society at the American Institute of Physics (AIP). Sauncy has served in a variety of leadership positions at the national level in ALPhA, SPS, AAPT, the Council on Undergraduate Research, and is active within the Texas Physics Community. While at AIP, she took on an NSF-funded project aimed at enhancing the ability of undergraduate physics programs to prepare baccalaureate degree holders to join the workforce upon graduation. As part of that work, The AIP Career Pathways Project, Sauncy co-authored a number of resources for undergraduate physics educators and students related to career opportunities and professional development. Sauncy was awarded her highest honor, named as the 2007 SPS Outstanding Chapter advisor, topped only by her recent Worth Seagondollar Award (2023) from the SPS National Council. Sauncy has devoted her professional career to the undergraduate physics community with a focus on implementing high-impact physics education techniques in the classroom and laboratory, and to undergraduate student professional development, leadership and service. Sauncy received the BS in Mathematics, and then MS and PhD in Physics at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.