Five faculty members from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University were honored recently for the excellence of their efforts in the classroom. The announcement of these awards was made at the fall faculty/staff meeting held on Friday, August 31.
From top: Mays faculty members Lanie Thornton, Paul Busch and Elizabeth Umpress are presented with Distinguished Achievement in College Level Teaching Awards by Interim Dean Ricky W. Griffin and Association of Former Students Executive Director Porter Garner.
Porter Garner, executive director of the Association of Former Students, presented three members of the Mays faculty with Distinguished Achievement in College Level Teaching Awards. A framed certificate and a check for $2,000 accompanied this honor.
Recipients of the Association’s award included: Paul Busch, professor of marketing; Lanie Thornton, senior lecturer in accounting; and Elizabeth Umphress, assistant professor of management. To be chosen, these educators were nominated by their students and faculty/staff peers. Nominators wrote letters of recommendation, which were reviewed by a selection committee.
According to the Association’s website, the purpose of these awards is to “recognize, encourage and reward superior classroom teachers–those individuals whose command of their respective discipline, teaching methodologies, pervasive caring, communication skills, and commitment to the learning process exemplify the meaning of teacher/mentor in its highest sense.”
Also honored at the meeting were Alina Sorescu and Mary Lea McAnally. Sorescu, an assistant professor of marketing and Mays research fellow, was named a 2007-2008 Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Montague Scholar. Named for founding donor Kenneth Montague ’37, this program allows the university to recognize excellence in teaching early in a faculty member’s career. Annually, each academic college names as Montague-CTE Scholar one tenure-track assistant professor who has already demonstrated a commitment to, and potential for, excellence in undergraduate teaching. Each scholar receives a $5,000 grant to develop and conduct research about innovative teaching techniques, with results made available for use in the CTE faculty development programs.
Mary Lea McAnally is presented with the Mays Executive MBA Faculty Recognition Award by Interim Dean Ricky W. Griffin and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Bala Shetty.
McAnally, associate professor of accounting, was given the Mays Executive MBA Faculty Recognition Award. The EMBA students choose one faculty member each year to honor with this award. The faculty members are evaluated in the areas of the learning environment they create, and the professional and intellectual development they inspire in their pupils. McAnally was presented with a trophy and a stipend of $2,000.
Categories: Faculty