Eduardo
Espina
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Year Awarded: 2007
Considered by the critics as one of the most important and original writers of the Spanish language, Eduardo Espina (Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1954. He has published more than ten books of poetry and criticism. He won prestigious international literary awards, and doctoral theses have been written about his poetic works. His poetry is studied in universities in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, and his poems have been translated partially to English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Croatian. He is included in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
For 20 years he has taught a wide variety of courses, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, receiving consistently very high student evaluations. Professor Espina feels the reason of his success is very simple: “Teaching to me is a vocation, not just profession. It is a labor of love. I love to teach, and students can see this. I have even more energy and passion than 20 years ago, and more desire to keep growing both personally and intellectually.” Professor Espina strives to be an intellectual role model and inspiration for his students, making a positive difference in their lives. He says, “I seek to help individuals of every belief, race, gender, sexual preference, and color to develop critical thinking talents beyond imagined boundaries.”
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
John
Fackler
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Year Awarded: 2007
John Fackler joined the faculty of Texas A&M in 1983, serving as Dean of the College of Science until 1992. He currently holds the rank of Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Fackler has been a leading international figure in inorganic chemistry for over thirty years, and his work in gold chemistry is recognized among the leading two or three chemists worldwide in this field. His work on organometallic gold chemistry, in particular, evolved fundamental structural concepts that are now being used to understand the role of gold in catalysis, a vibrant area of chemistry. He has advised 33 doctoral students and over 40 postdoctoral researchers, and published over 345 research papers.
Among his major honors and awards are a Fulbright Award, J. S. Guggenheim Fellowship, and three major awards from the American Chemical Society: Morley (1987), Southwest Regional (1990) and Distinguished Service to Inorganic Chemistry (2001). He has served as member and chair of the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences, a world-renowned series of scientific conferences. A colleague from Harvard says of him, “John Fackler is an outstanding scientist, science administrator, teacher, mentor, and university citizen. Few persons I have known have been as accomplished in combining these elements into a distinguished and altogether commendable career as has John Fackler.”
College: Science
Award Level: Research
Ciprian
Foias
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Year Awarded: 2007
Ciprian Foias joined the Texas A&M faculty as Professor of Mathematics in 1999, and was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2007. Professor Foias’ research has set the tone for much of the research in operator theory and fluid mechanics over the past forty years, with a level of productivity almost unheard of among the mathematical community. He is the author of 11 books and 401 journal articles, has directed over 20 Ph.D. student dissertations, and has had continuous funding of his research program from the National Science Foundation since 1988.
His major awards include the 1995 Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics from the American Mathematical Society and the Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics (AMS/SIAM), the 2000 Béla Szõkefalvi-Nagy Memorial Medal from the University of Szeged, Hungary, and honorary memberships in the Hungarian Academy of Science and the Romanian Academy. In 1995 while he was at Indiana University, the Ciprian Foias Prize (a scholarship for undergraduate mathematics majors) was established in his honor.
The department awards chair described Dr. Foias as a “creative genius who, in his world of mathematics, is as influential as the conductor Seiji Ozawa in the world of music...or the painter David Hockney in the world of modern art.”
College: Science
Award Level: Research
William C.
Hearn
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Year Awarded: 2007
William Hearn exemplifies the highest standards of the institution he serves, especially its traditions and ideals. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1963 with a degree in Animal Sciences and a U.S. Army commission. In 1967, he served in Vietnam and was actively engaged in some of the fiercest combat of that campaign. His decorations include the silver star and two bronze stars for bravery under fire. In 1974, he arrived at the Galveston campus as its Senior Student Affairs Officer. Despite his responsibilities being expanded to include a sixteen month appointment as Interim Vice President and CEO of the campus, his true dedication has always been to the students.
Mr. Hearn has been instrumental in assuring that all traditions and policies of Texas A&M University are maintained and practiced at Galveston. Students and cadets at TAMUG mirror the student body at College Station, including Muster, yell practice, and attendance at sports events, all as a result of Mr. Hearn’s commitment to fostering the sharing of the Aggie spirit and experience.
College: Student Affairs (TAMUG)
Award Level: Administration
Anton
Hoffman
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Year Awarded: 2007
Anton Hoffman earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. For 15 years he has been teaching anatomy to professional and undergraduate students at Texas A&M. One of his students has said of him, “His teaching style captures the classes’ attention and makes us feel like real participants in our own learning, rather than a room full of warm bodies sitting through yet another lecture.” Dr. Hoffman is a dynamic and motivating speaker, engaging the students with thought-provoking questions and discussions. He also is known for his ability to make the most confusing and complex concepts understandable, in part through his considerable skills as an anatomical illustrator. According to a former student, who is now a fellow teacher of anatomy, “In teaching a difficult class that has a reputation for making or breaking careers in medicine and veterinary medicine alike, it is truly an astounding achievement that Dr. Hoffman is genuinely adored by his students.”
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Teaching
Larry
Johnson
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Year Awarded: 2007
Larry Johnson earned a B.S. from North Carolina State University, an M.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, and a Ph.D. from Colorado State University. He came to Texas A&M in 1987. As well as being an accomplished researcher in mammalian reproduction, Dr. Johnson has contributed to science as a teacher and a leader of science education programs. He established, and now coordinates, several programs to create and sustain an interface between public schools and higher education. His focus is on making science accessible and exciting for youngsters at a prime developmental stage: middle school (grades 5-7). To engage students in science, Dr. Johnson has obtained substantial funding to develop unique and exciting teaching materials, supply teacher training, and provide classroom visits.
“His success in strengthening the science education in rural schools in Texas has become almost legendary,” one peer notes. Says another, “He is truly evangelical when it comes to the need for university faculty and students to engage and support the efforts of educators statewide, but especially those located in rural, underserved areas.”
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Continuing Education/Extension
Jerome
Loving
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Year Awarded: 2007
Jerome Loving has taught at Texas A&M University since 1973, and has served as Distinguished Professor since 2003. He received all three of his degrees in English: B.A., Pennsylvania State University, 1964; M.A., Duquesne University, 1970; and Ph.D., Duke University, 1973. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (2002) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (2007). He has also received two Fulbright Fellowships (in Russia and France), and taught on another occasion as visiting professor at the Sorbonne. His field of specialization is Nineteenth-Century and Early Twentieth-Century American Literature.
Dr. Loving is the author or editor of nine books and many scholarly articles, including biographies of Walt Whitman and Theodore Dreiser, both published by the University of California Press. His Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself (1999) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2000. He is currently finishing a biography of Mark Twain, which is supported as a "We the People" project by the National Endowment for the Humanities and scheduled for publication in 2010, on the hundredth anniversary of the author's death.
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Research
Joanne
Lupton
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Year Awarded: 2007
Joanne Lupton earned her bachelor’s degree from Mt. Holyoke College and her Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of California at Davis. She is also holder of the William W. Allen Endowed Chair in Human Nutrition. Her research is directed on the effect of diet on colon physiology and colon cancer, with a particular focus on dietary fiber and n-3 fatty acids. Dr. Lupton’s research is supported by grants from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute [NSBRI], NASA, and the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute.
During her career at Texas A&M University, Dr.Lupton has mentored more than 50 master’s and doctoral students. She is president-elect of the American Society for Nutrition, and is Program Leader for nutrition, physical fitness and rehabilitation for the NSBRI. In 2004, Dr. Lupton was honored with the Dannon/American Society for Nutrition mentoring award, and is a lifetime associate of the National Academy of Sciences.
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Research
Stephen
McDaniel
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Year Awarded: 2007
Stephen McDaniel earned his BBA in 1971 and MBA in 1972 from Texas A&M University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1979. He served as Captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and in store operations with J.C. Penney. He now serves as Assistant Department Head and Master of Science Advisor in the Department of Marketing, Mays Business School. In addition to this work, he advises three student organizations - Breakaway Ministries, Freedom Ministries (Upstream Bible Study), and the Masters Marketing Association, and he is the cooperative education advisor for his department, and leader of the Marketing Study Abroad Program.
While on the faculty at Texas A&M, he has published over fifty articles in academic journals and is the co-author of two books. “Dr. Mac” (as his students call him) has been honored with a Fish Camp Namesake Award, a T-Camp Namesake Award, and a college level Association of Former Students Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Teaching. He and his wife Nancy have been married 31 years. They have two children - Brian, 28, a missionary in Spain, and Sarah, 22, an elementary education major at Sam Houston State University.
College: Business
Award Level: Graduate Mentoring
Annie L.
McGowan
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Year Awarded: 2007
Annie McGowan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting at Texas A&M University. She received a B.S. from Alcorn State University, a M.S. from Jackson State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. Dr. McGowan's research focusing on the technical and behavioral implications of cost management system design and implementation has been published in journals including The Journal of Management Accounting Research, The Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting and Finance Research, The Journal of Cost Management, The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy and The Accounting Review.
Dr. McGowan teaches an undergraduate course in cost accounting, and the honors sections of managerial accounting. She has been recognized for her accomplishments in many ways, including being named, the 1998-1999 Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar, University Honors Teacher/Scholar in 2002, and the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in 2003. Dr. McGowan serves as the Program Director for the Mays Business Career Awareness Program, a summer residency program designed to recruit high achieving minority students. She is also the advisor for the Texas A&M University student chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants, and the African American Business Society.
College: Business
Award Level: Teaching
Norma
Pantoja
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Year Awarded: 2007
Norma Pantoja is an Administrative Coordinator in the Department of Agricultural Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University. As administrative coordinator, Ms. Pantoja is responsible for the coordination of all administrative processes in a very large department with an annual budget in excess of ten million dollars that employs more than 250 people on any given day, including more than 55 on- and off-campus faculty members, numerous professional staff, support staff and student workers. In 2000, Ms. Pantoja received the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Administrative Support and has been recognized by students and faculty within her department with numerous awards.
In addition to her leadership within the department, Ms. Pantoja has served in numerous positions within the Texas A&M Association of Professional Support Staff [TAPSS] and has served her community as co-chair of the Volunteer Committee and co-chair of the annual American Cancer Society’s Cattle Baron’s Ball for 2002/03 and 2003/04.
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Staff
Jay
Porter
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Year Awarded: 2007
Jay Porter joined the Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution Department in 1998 and is currently the Program Coordinator for the Electronics and the Telecommunications Engineering Technology Programs. He is a “three-time Aggie graduate” including a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He has developed and taught eight different courses, all of which integrate traditional lectures with hands-on learning experiences. Many of the new course/laboratory developments have included major grants from industry leaders such as Texas Instruments, National Instruments, and Freescale Semiconductor (formerly Motorola) to establish state-of-the-art laboratories.
Dr. Porter possesses a unique capability to integrate his research and professional activities into providing students with a richer and more real-world educational experience, thus better preparing them for the demanding careers they will pursue after graduation. His recent efforts have focused on developing an engineering entrepreneurial educational experience, or E4, for undergraduate students. Once fully implemented, E4 will create a technology incubator dedicated to providing undergraduate students with an opportunity to take their intellectual property and develop it into a new business venture.
College: Engineering
Award Level: Teaching
Dan
Posey
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Year Awarded: 2007
Dr. Posey graduated from Texas A&M University in 1982. He was in private general veterinary practice in rural Madison County for 20 years. Dr. Posey received training in beef cattle production management through the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center in Clay Center, Nebraska in 1996/1997. He joined the faculty of the Veterinary School at Texas A&M University in March 2002, where he instructs senior veterinary students through clinical service to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Agricultural Programs. The Texas A&M Veterinary School and T.D.C.J. have had a 38 year relationship in the training of veterinary students thru the care and service to their livestock. The T.D.C.J. Agricultural Division has a diverse animal population that consists of 16,000 cattle, 26,000 swine, 1.500 horses, 1,500 canine and 320,000 chickens. The primary objective of the TDCJ service rotation is to afford the professional veterinary students the opportunity to develop skills in veterinary primary care and client service.
Dr. Posey is boarded by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in beef cattle practice. He serves as the Chief of Food Animal Medicine in the Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University.
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Student Relations
J.N.
Reddy
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Year Awarded: 2007
J. N. Reddy is a Distinguished Professor and the Holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. He has authored of over three hundred and fifty journal papers and fifteen text books. Professor Reddy has extraordinary dedication to teaching and passion for facilitating students’ learning. His teaching and research contributions focus on applied mechanics and computational methods, for which he is internationally known.
An especially strong point of Dr. Reddy’s classroom teaching and the textbooks that he has authored is the clarity and physical insight of explanations of even the most difficult topics through relevant engineering examples, but without compromising on the mathematical rigor. He maintains his own course web sites where his meticulously prepared illustrations and learning aids have helped countless students, as well as teachers who adopt his books. Dr. Reddy earned institutional awards for both research and teaching excellence at every institution he has served, and he also won several national awards from professional societies for his research contributions to science and engineering.
College: Engineering
Award Level: Teaching
Cecil R.
Reynolds
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Year Awarded: 2007
Cecil Reynolds is a Professor of Educational Psychology, Professor of Neuroscience, and Distinguished Research Scholar. He is the author of over 300 scholarly publications, author or editor of over 45 books, and the creator of numerous widely-used psychological tests, including the Behavior Assessment System for Children, the most frequently administered test of its type in the English-speaking world. Dr. Reynolds is past president of the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) and the APA Divisions of Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics, Clinical Neuropsychology, and School Psychology. He serves on 11 journal editorial boards. He is Editor of Applied Neuropsychology and Associate Editor of School Psychology Quarterly.
Dr. Reynolds has received many awards recognizing him for excellence in research, including the Lightner Witmer Award, Senior Scientist Award from APA Division of School Psychology, and NAN’s Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award (the Academy’s highest award). His service has been recognized through the President's Gold Medal for Service to NAN and the Academy’s Distinguished Service Award, and the UNC at Wilmington 50th Anniversary Razor Walker Award for Service to the Youth of America.
College: Education and Human Development
Award Level: Research
Ralph
Schoolcraft
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Year Awarded: 2007
Ralph Schoolcraft earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in French. He taught at the University of Oklahoma, where he was awarded the Cecil Woods Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was then named Visiting Professor of French for one year at the Université Blaise Pascal in France. At Texas A&M, Schoolcraft created the first university-wide reciprocal exchange in France, at the Université de Caen in Normandy.
Dr. Schoolcraft has been an exemplary classroom teacher since his arrival at Texas A&M. Outside the classroom, he has devoted himself tirelessly to mentoring students, offering them invaluable advice and support in pursuing study abroad opportunities, graduate school options and career choices. He is truly both a mentor and friend to Texas A&M students, both inside and outside the College of Liberal Arts.
In addition to his work with students, Dr. Schoolcraft has written a biography, Romain Gary: The Man Who Sold His Shadow (2002), and translated a book by Henry Rousso, The Haunting Past: History, Memory and Justice in Contemporary France (UPenn, 2002). His articles have appeared in venues such as PMLA, SubStance, MLN, Cahiers de l’Herne, and South Central Review, as well as in numerous French scholarly journals. He is currently working on three books simultaneously.
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
Robert
Segner
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Year Awarded: 2007
Robert O. “Bob” Segner loves to introduce himself with the words, “It is my privilege to serve as Professor of Construction Science at Texas A&M University.” His teaching, and his love for his students, and for his university, are the centerpieces of his professional life. Present and former students name him as the faculty member who was the most influential teacher and mentor, on their road to success. Professor Segner has built a career of teaching excellence, as well as significant accomplishment in research and service, in the program where he was previously a student. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1969 with a B.S. degree in Architectural Construction, and a Master of Construction Management degree in 1972.
As a Professor, he has served his Department and College in many roles. He has developed the most highly subscribed courses in his department. He has been recognized for teaching excellence at the departmental, college, university, regional, and national levels. He is actively involved at the national level in professional associations, and is President-Elect of the American Council for Construction Education, the primary international accreditation agency for programs of construction management higher education.
College: Architecture
Award Level: Teaching
David
Toback
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Year Awarded: 2007
David Toback, Associate Professor of Physics, joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2000 and has since received a college-level Distinguished Achievement Award in teaching in 2004, a Corps of Cadets award in 2002, and was named a Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar in 2002-03. He has worked tirelessly to improve the introductory physics courses for engineers and to bring a course on the Big Bang and Black Holes to non-scientists. In addition to being a dynamic and motivating teacher, known for using comic relief to teach physics concepts at 8:00 a.m., he has developed multiple web-based systems to aid student learning. These systems were so successful that they have been adopted in all the introductory physics courses, published in a top physics education research journal, and presented in invited talks on web-based learning.
One former graduate teaching assistant, now a faculty member at the College of William and Mary, stated that Dr. Toback “not only does an exceptional job of teaching Physics to undergraduate students, he also teaches graduate students to be exceptional teachers.” A senior Chemical Engineering major who had the 8 a.m. class as a freshman says, “I honestly believe Dr. Toback and his teaching style played a vital role in helping me develop confidence in my learning abilities and effective study habits that have carried through the past four years.”
College: Science
Award Level: Teaching
Claudia
Barton
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Teaching
David A.
Bessler
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Graduate Mentoring
Gerald R.
Betty ’73
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Year Awarded: 2006
College:
Award Level: Student Relations
Bhanu
Chowdhary
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Research
F. Albert
Cotton
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Science
Award Level: Graduate Mentoring
John L.
Crompton ’77
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Teaching
Kim R.
Dunbar
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Science
Award Level: Graduate Mentoring
Richard Timothy
Dye ’85
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Business
Award Level: Teaching
David M.
Ford
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Engineering
Award Level: Teaching
Jon F.
Hunter
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Teaching
Brian
Imhoff
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching