Luciana R.
Barroso
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Year Awarded: 2008
Luciana Barroso holds BA. and B.S. degrees from Rice University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. She joined the Texas A&M faculty in the fall of 1999. Her teaching talent and mentoring has been recognized both by her department and nationally; she has received the 2003 Zachry Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Department of Civil Engineering as well as the 2003 ExCEEd New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award for Zone III from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). As one colleague states, “Dr. Barroso is regarded as someone who demonstrates “impressive skill, dedication and commitment to her students learning.” She has taught 11 different courses while at Texas A&M University and is constantly trying to refine and improve those courses. Her research interests have also expanded to include engineering education.
Dr. Barroso is known in the department as someone who will challenge her students to exceed their expectations and to actually understand the course material rather than “just get through it.” As one student states “while this is a notoriously difficult course in our department, with instruction and support from Dr. Barroso, I not only survived it, I thrived in it.” Another student declared that “one of the most important components to successfully completing the course is the availability of Dr. Barroso and her wonderfully structured and organized teaching style. She provided a really welcoming atmosphere where we could all work together.” Dr. Barroso is highly regarded both in and out of the classroom due to her dedication to her role as both teacher and mentor.
College: Engineering
Award Level: Teaching
Claudia
Barton
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Year Awarded: 1982
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Teaching
Claudia
Barton
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Year Awarded: 1988
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Extension/ Continuing Education
Claudia
Barton
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Year Awarded: 2006
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Teaching
Richard
Bartoskewitz
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Year Awarded: 2007
Richard E. Bartoskewitz, a native of San Antonio, Texas, received his B.S. in civil engineering in 1969 from Texas A&M University. After receiving his M.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M in 1970, he worked for the Texas Transportation Institute. His research interests were in the area of soil-structure interaction, with emphasis on deep foundations for highway bridges and soil pressures on earth-retaining structures and culverts. In 1973, he began teaching for the Civil Engineering Department, and in 1992 was assigned to his current position of Senior Academic Advisor in the undergraduate office.
In 1999, Mr. Bartoskewitz was selected as a T-Camp namesake. He received an Outstanding Staff award in 2002, and currently volunteers as the Academic Mentor for Company E-2 in the Corps of Cadets. He was selected as an Outstanding Academic Volunteer by the Corps of Cadets in 2006. He and his wife, Polly, have two children: a son Rick ’92 and a daughter Laura ’95, and two grandchildren, future Aggies, Jacob ’23 and Caleb ’25.
College: Engineering
Award Level: Student Relations
George
Bass
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Year Awarded: 1984
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Research
Horace
Bass
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Year Awarded: 1960
College: Liberal Arts
Award Level: Teaching
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
Robert
Beals ’70
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Year Awarded: 1987
College: Engineering
Award Level: Student Relations
Russell
Beamer ’58
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Year Awarded: 1960
College: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science
Award Level: Student Relations
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
Jacqueline
Beasley ’87
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Year Awarded: 1992
College: Business Services
Award Level: Staff
John
Beckham ’50
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Year Awarded: 1963
College: Science
Award Level: Student Relations
Sarah W.
Bednarz ’92
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Year Awarded: 2004
College: Geosciences
Award Level: Teaching
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
David
Benson ’42
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Year Awarded: 1982
College: Business
Award Level: Student Relations