Lerner honors
Lerner College announces faculty and professional excellence honorees
12:59 p.m., May 29, 2012--Dean Bruce Weber of the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has announced the selection of the college's faculty and professional excellence awards for 2011-12.
The awards, which will be formally presented to the honorees at the Lerner College at the fall faculty and staff meeting, celebrated outstanding teaching, research and service, as well as professional excellence.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
Teaching, research and service awards
Three faculty members won the Lerner College awards for outstanding teaching, research and service, which are based primarily on nominations by students, alumni and faculty colleagues. Each of the winners will receive a monetary award and an award plaque for their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the college.
William Gehrlein, professor of business administration in operations management, received the Lerner College Outstanding Scholar Award, which recognizes outstanding scholarship by a full-time faculty member over a sustained period of time.
“Bill has an impressive record of over 150 quality journal publications, authorship or editorship of six books, 10 writings within books, 49 conference papers and over 30 conference presentations,” said Weber. “He is also currently a member of the editorial board of two major journals.”
Gehrlein’s research spans the areas of preference and decision theory, production-operations management, social choice theory and statistics.
A colleague wrote of Gehrlein, “His research is frequently cited, occasionally controversial and always interesting. His commitment to research goes beyond his own work and extends to his willingness to serve the discipline and encourage scholarship in others.”
Anu Sivaraman, assistant professor of business administration in marketing, received the Lerner College Outstanding Teacher Award as a result of enthusiastic recommendations from her undergraduate and graduates students as well as her peers.
The award recognizes a full-time faculty member’s overall contribution to the educational mission of the Lerner College.
“Anu’s students appreciate her ability to use current technology to engage her class and her zeal and passion for teaching,” said Weber. “And Anu’s peers recognize her demonstrated ability to engage students on all levels, whether in small honors sections, mid-size undergraduate and graduate courses or in large lecture classes of over 350 students.”
Gregory Kane, professor of accounting and MIS, received the Lerner College Outstanding Outreach/Service Award, which recognizes a full-time faculty member whose contributions significantly impact the college, local, national and/or international communities.
“Greg has received this award for his effort and commitment to the M.S. in accounting program,” said Weber. “Under his leadership, the program grew from 13 students five years ago to over 100 students today.”
According to one nomination letter, Kane improved communications with the applicant pool, applied for grants to fund graduate assistantships, championed the creation of graduate programs like the 4+1 and graduate study abroad programs and spearheaded efforts to update the graduate accounting curriculum.
Professional excellence award
The Leon and Margaret Slocomb Professional Excellence Award is presented each year to a full-time faculty or professional staff member in the Lerner College who exhibits a caring attitude for the interest of students and clients, and demonstrates an exemplary commitment to public service, community involvement and innovative activity. The winner receives a monetary award and a plaque of recognition.
Dan Freeman, associate professor of business administration in marketing, received the award for his enthusiastic leadership as director of the Venture Development Center and Entrepreneurial Studies (E-Studies) Program.
“This past year Dan led the development and launch of the UDSeed portal, which is a web platform that enables alumni, faculty, staff and community members to participate in sponsoring work that UD students do,” said Weber. “Dan has prepared a major revision of the e-studies minor, established a UD Entrepreneurial Support Group and hosted 'Startup Weekend Delaware,' an important networking event for faculty, students and members of the community.”
According to other nominations, Freeman “exhibits a profoundly caring attitude for his students, potential employers and the entrepreneurship community.”
Previously, Freeman was awarded the 2011 Lerner College Outstanding Outreach/Service Award for his dedication to making a better educational experience for students.
Lerner College Student Choice Teaching Award
Each year, the Lerner College Student Advisory Board sponsors and organizes the Lerner College Student Choice Teaching Award. This year, the award went to Christine Kydd, professor of business administration, in recognition of her excellent teaching. The award will be presented by the Lerner College SAB at the fall faculty and staff meeting.
Article by Kathryn Meier