Twenty-one faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at the University of Missouri-Rolla were honored for their excellence in teaching in 2003-2004 during a reception held Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Dr. Paula Lutz, dean of the UMR College of Arts and Sciences, presented the awards.

The CAS Excellence in Teaching Award is given each year to College of Arts and Sciences faculty members in two categories. "We wanted to recognize those faculty who teach well to a large number of students (more than 100 per year) and those who teach labs," explains Lutz. In addition, an award for freshmen or first year faculty honors those faculty members who achieve this excellence in their initial year at UMR.

Award winners are selected by a committee of Distinguished Teaching Professors in the College of Arts and Sciences based on student evaluations of faculty members done by the Committee for Effective Teaching at UMR. All college faculty, with the exception of Distinguished Teaching Professors, are eligible for the awards.

CAS Freshman Faculty Teaching Awards were presented to Dr. John McManus, assistant professor of history and political science, and Dr. Michael Nelson, assistant professor of psychology. They were honored for their teaching in classes with 100 or more students.

The following faculty members who taught more than 100 students in lecture classes during 2003-2004 were selected for CAS Excellence in Teaching Awards:

– Col. Tom Akers, instructor of mathematics and statistics.
– Dr. Ronald J. Bieniek, associate professor of physics and director of UMR’s Learning Enhancement Across Disciplines and New Faculty programs.
– Dr. Martin Bohner, associate professor of mathematics and statistics.
– Dr. Patrick Huber, assistant professor history and political science.
– Merilee Krueger, lecturer in psychology.
– Dr. Vy Le, associate professor of mathematics and statistics.
– Dr. Jennifer Leopold, assistant professor of computer science.
– Dr. James Martin, assistant professor of psychology.
– Dr. John McManus, assistant professor of history and political science.
– Dr. Michael E. Meagher, associate professor of history and political science.
– Dr. Melanie Mormile, associate professor of biological sciences.
– Dr. Michael Nelson, assistant professor of psychology.
– Clayton Price, instructor of computer science.
– Dr. Oran Allan Pringle, professor of physics.
– Dr. Jeff Schramm, assistant professor of history and political science.
– Dr. Don Sharpsteen, associate professor of psychology.
– Dr. David Westenberg, associate professor of biological sciences.
– Dr. Ralph Wilkerson, professor of computer science and associate dean of the UMR College of Arts and Sciences.
– Terry J. Wilson, lecturer in biological sciences.

Of those faculty members, Akers, Bieniek, Krueger, Meagher and Nelson met the award requirements while teaching courses with more than 200 students.

The following instructors who taught two or more lab courses in 2003-2004 were selected for the awards:

Lorie Francis, lecturer in music in the arts, languages and philosophy department. Dr. Don Miller, assistant professor of music in the arts, languages and philosophy department. Terry J. Wilson, lecturer in biological sciences.