William
Bassichis
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Year Awarded: 1978
College: Science
Award Level: Teaching
Raymond
Battalio
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Year Awarded: 1985
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Research
James
Batteas
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Year Awarded: 2017
James Batteas, professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering, joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2005. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. An author of nearly 100 publications, Dr. Batteas is an expert in materials chemistry of surfaces and interfaces, with research covering a broad range of fundamental surface and interfacial problems, including designing materials to harness energy and to control energy losses by reducing friction in machined interfaces, through studies of friction at the atomic scale. He teaches courses in physical and analytical chemistry at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has been involved in a number of educational innovations, including the complete revision of the physical chemistry lab curriculum where he developed a new laboratory module on scanning tunneling microscopy, designed to engage students in cutting edge research techniques while introducing and reinforcing topics in physical chemistry, quantum mechanics, solid state chemistry, and the electronic structure of molecules and materials. In his 11 years at Texas A&M, he has trained and graduated 11 Ph.D. students, 3 master’s students, and sponsored 22 undergraduates on research projects in his lab. Most recently, he developed a week-long course on Nanotechnology, offered as part of the Texas A&M University Youth Adventure Program, to engage 7th – 10th grade students in STEM. A former student wrote that “his demonstrated teaching excellence and love for chemistry has been the catalyst for many students . . . to explore the exciting world of Nanoscience. A current student commented, “This being an 8 A.M. class, I thought it’d be harder to stay awake and absorb information. Thanks to Dr. Batteas and his enthusiasm, I never found myself falling asleep and I was easily able to stay focused in class.”
College: Department of Chemistry
Award Level: Teaching
Thomas
Baxter
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Year Awarded: 1996
College: Rudder Theater Complex
Award Level: Staff
Garland
Bayliss
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Year Awarded: 1978
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Student Relations
Fuller
Bazer
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Year Awarded: 2000
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Research
James
Beard
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Year Awarded: 1987
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Research
Ronald
Beard
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Year Awarded: 2000
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Administration
Wallace
Beasley
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Year Awarded: 1963
College: Engineering
Award Level: Extension/ Continuing Education
Deborah
Bell-Pedersen
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Year Awarded: 2015
Deborah Bell-Pedersen earned her Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Albany. Following postdoctoral work at Dartmouth Medical School, she joined the College of Science faculty in 1997. Her research investigates how the circadian clock regulates daily rhythms in behavior, physiology, and biochemistry. Defects of the human clock are associated sleep disorders, and for unknown reasons, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, headaches, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Understanding how biological clocks function can lead to new ways to improve human health. Dr. Bell-Pedersen is well respected in her field. She has published more than 50 articles in top journals, garnering more than 5,900 citations, and she is frequently invited to present her work at scientific meetings and seminars across the country. Among her awards and honors, Dr. Bell-Pedersen has received the Jo Ann Treat Award for Excellence in Research and the Texas A&M Women Former Students’ Network Eminent Scholar Award. In 2014, she was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology. A colleague writes, “…the results of her research efforts have added substantially to the basic body of knowledge of how clocks drive an organism, and she is already making sure that these findings can be used to improve the quality of life.… Deb stands out as a distinguished researcher.” A department head at another university writes, “Dr. Bell-Pedersen has made significant research contributions to the filamentous fungal and clock research communities and is a highly-respected leader in these fields.… She is on a steep upward trajectory and we will continue to see her accomplish great things in the future.” Another colleague sums up, “Simply stated she’s among the best there is…in the field of circadian rhythms, in the entire world.”
College: College of Science
Award Level: Research
Paula
Bender
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Year Awarded: 1995
College: Architecture
Award Level: Staff
Alfred
Bendixen
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Year Awarded: 2014
Alfred Bendixen joined the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts in 2005 after spending 17 years at California State University and 9 years at Barnard College. Since receiving his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, he has established a national reputation for his scholarly work in American literature and his founding and leadership of the American Literature Association. He is considered a pioneering scholar in the recovery of works by American women writers.
Dr. Bendixen has taught a remarkably wide range of advanced classes in American literature during his eight and half years at Texas A&M. The average student evaluation over all his courses is more than 4.6 out of a possible 5. These high scores are even more impressive when you consider that his reading lists and syllabi demonstrate that he demands more from his students than many others. For instance, students in his science fiction class read 10 novels and 21 short stories during a semester! In the comments, students call him “a really awesome Professor” who is “always prepared” and “full of insightful information.” They describe the course as “great” or “fantastic” and often describe it as their favorite course of the semester. One student even wrote, “Dr. Bendixen was the most influential teacher I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. His understanding of the material is encyclopedic, and his energy has reaffirmed my love of literature.… I really feel that my perception of the world around me has been fundamentally changed in a positive way.” Several students wrote that they sign up for his courses on the basis of who is teaching, not the subject matter. One states, “I didn’t really care what the course was about; all I really wanted was to have him again as an instructor and mentor.” However, his nominator wrote that Dr. Bendixen’s real accomplishment is in teaching his students to think. As one student put it, “he challenges students with questions and ideas, enabling them to disinter the discoveries for themselves …. This style and attitude both challenges and empowers students.”
College: College of Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
James J.
Benjamin
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Year Awarded: 2004
College: Business
Award Level: Administration
Ludy T.
Benjamin
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Year Awarded: 1994
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
Ludy T.
Benjamin
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Year Awarded: 2005
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
Kemble
Bennett
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Year Awarded: 2011
Dr. G. Kemble (Kem) Bennett joined the Texas A&M Engineering Program in 1986 as Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering. He has served as Associate Dean of Research, Director and CEO of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and Director and CEO of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), where he founded Texas Task Force I. Currently, Dr. Bennett is the chief administrator for engineering programs of the Texas A&M University System, and, as such, serves as Vice Chancellor for Engineering, Director and CEO of TEES and Dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering. As Vice Chancellor, Dr. Bennett administers research programs and extension services of TEES, TEEX, and the Texas Transportation Institute, and coordinates engineering, academic and research programs across the A&M System. As Dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering, he administers one of the nation’s largest and highest ranked engineering programs. He has led the college through a period of tremendous growth, including the addition of 113 faculty positions, establishing the branch campus in Doha, Qatar, and increasing research expenditures. He has been chair of the National Advisory Council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and chair of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Industrial Engineers and Society of Logistics Engineers, where he has been recognized for his professional and academic contributions with the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award and the Eccles Medal. He was named Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering in 1970.
One colleague wrote, “On any given day during any given week, Dr. Bennett is called upon to make hundreds of non-trivial decisions and each decision effects programs, individuals and students in multiple ways.” He adds, “It is difficult to fully describe the breadth and depth of administrative and management talents of this dedicated leader.” In addition, he stated, “I have served Texas A&M University for over 35 years, and I have seen presidents, provosts, deans and administrators come and go. I have never known anyone to possess the administrative and judgmental skills of Dr. Kemble Bennett.”
College: Engineering
Award Level: Administration
Robert
Berg
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Year Awarded: 1977
College: Geosciences
Award Level: Research
Robert
Berg
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Year Awarded: 1983
College: Geosciences
Award Level: Teaching
David E.
Bergbreiter
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Year Awarded: 1997
College: Science
Award Level: Teaching
David E.
Bergbreiter
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Year Awarded: 2008
David Bergbreiter joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1974 and currently holds the title of Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering. An internationally recognized organic chemist, Dr. Bergbreiter has made seminal contributions in fields as diverse as asymmetric synthesis, enzymatic catalysis, polymer synthesis, surface chemistry, and metal-catalyzed organic reactions. He is particularly noted for innovative new catalyst recycling technologies, many of which involve polymers and/or biphasic systems, and have attracted intense interest from industry. He has over 225 refereed research publications, over 500 invited lectures at academic and industrial laboratories, meetings and symposia, and has served on numerous editorial board, government panels and advisory committees
According to his nominator, “Bergbreiter has always asserted that the best vehicle for teaching is research, and he has excelled as a mentor of undergraduates and graduate students.” He has trained 42 postdoctoral and 38 graduate students and supervised 48 undergraduate researchers, and his publications feature more than 32 undergraduate co-authors. He has been honored by Texas A&M with The Association of Former Students College-Level Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching (1983), The Association of Former Students University-Level Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (1997), an Eppright University Professorship for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (2002-2007), and the university’s most prestigious teaching award, the Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence, in 2006.
College: Science
Award Level: Research
Robert
Berridge
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Year Awarded: 1978
College: Education and Human Development
Award Level: Extension
Leonard L.
Berry
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Year Awarded: 2008
Leonard L. Berry came to Texas A&M in 1982. He presently is a Distinguished Professor of Marketing and holds the M.B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership in the Mays Business School. He is also Professor of Humanities in Medicine in the College of Medicine, Health Science Center. He served as a Visiting Scientist at Mayo Clinic studying healthcare service in 2001-2002.
Professor Berry’s newest book is Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic which will be published in June 2008 by McGraw-Hill. He also is the author of Discovering the Soul of Service and On Great Service, among other books, as well as numerous journal articles. A former national president of the American Marketing Association, Dr. Berry received in 2007 the highest honor in the academic marketing discipline: the AMA/McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award. He also is a recipient of the Paul D. Converse Award, the Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Career Contributions to Services Marketing Award.
This is Dr. Berry’s third Association of Former Students University-Level Distinguished Achievement Award. He has previously won in the category of Research (in 1996) and in Teaching (in 1990). The University also honored Professor Berry by selecting him as a University Distinguished Lecturer for 2002-2003.
College: Business
Award Level: Research
Leonard L.
Berry
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Year Awarded: 1990
College: Business
Award Level: Teaching
Leonard L.
Berry
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Year Awarded: 1996
College: Business
Award Level: Research
Dennis A.
Berthold
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Year Awarded: 1977
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
Dennis A.
Berthold
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Year Awarded: 2005
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
David A.
Bessler
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Graduate Mentoring
David
Bessler
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Year Awarded: 2016
David Bessler, professor of agricultural economics and Regents Professor, joined the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1982. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. Before coming to Texas A&M, he was a member of the faculty of Purdue University. Dr. Bessler is credited with the creation and use of time-series modeling approaches for forecasting the effects of policy, environmental, and market forces on agricultural prices, production, and consumption. His accomplishments and discoveries in this area have transformed applied economic modeling, provided great societal benefit, and have been acknowledged not only within agricultural economics but also more broadly in the fields of economics, finance, management science, and computer science. He has published 136 refereed journal articles, and his work has been widely recognized by colleagues through numerous awards and honors, including being named a Distinguished Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and a Distinguished Scholar of the Western Agricultural Economic Association. He has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Graduate Mentoring, and was named a Simon Fellow in Econometrics at Victoria University of Manchester, U.K. His accomplishments are highly regarded by international leaders in agricultural economics. A colleague from the Sorbonne wrote, “Professor Bessler has revolutionized econometric thinking in matters of causal models.” Another colleague from the University of California, Davis, wrote that his “work has had a profound influence on the profession in price forecasting, analysis of futures markets, modeling of trade flows and measurement of integration of markets to name just a few.”
College: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Award Level: Research
Billy
Bielamowicz
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Year Awarded: 2001
College: Rudder Theater Complex
Award Level: Staff
Ben
Bigelow '05
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Year Awarded: 2017
Ben Bigelow is an assistant professor in the Construction Science Department where he also serves as the Graduate Program Coordinator and a Center for Housing and Urban Development Fellow. After earning his Ph.D. from Colorado State University, he joined the faculty of the College of Architecture in 2012. Formerly a homebuilder and remodeling contractor, Dr. Bigelow pursues research in all areas of residential construction and has particular interest in affordable and sustainable housing. He also conducts research relating to: underrepresented groups in construction management, the workforce shortage, construction finance, preconstruction, and construction education. He teaches courses in Estimating as well as a Residential Capstone course. Since his arrival in the department, Dr. Bigelow has consistently and effectively been engaged in interdisciplinary initiatives. One course of particular note, “Special Topics: Design Build Community Service” (aka, the tiny house project), provides students with a high-impact learning experience that focuses on 1) a real project from initial planning to completion and delivery to client; 2) learning centered on the design process, the role of the designers and good design in construction; and 3) community service that extends learning beyond the university and academic environment. A current student wrote that Dr. Bigelow demonstrates “special concern for the education of every student by challenging ideas, providing resources for explanation and adapting his activities and teaching style to the benefit of every student.” Another student added, “I am proud to have him as a professor in our program not only because of his work as a professor but also because of the compassion he shows his students and the community around him.”
College: Department of Construction Science
Award Level: Teaching