- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock /news-archive/tag/ualr-faculty-excellence-awards/ ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Wed, 20 Apr 2016 16:00:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 ��Vlog��ýLR Top Faculty share stories of success /news-archive/2016/04/20/ualr-top-faculty-share-stories-success/ Wed, 20 Apr 2016 16:00:05 +0000 /news/?p=64099 ...]]> In 2002, Gary Geissler joined the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as an assistant professor of marketing and advertising. After 14 years of a remarkable teaching career, Geissler was named one of the top ��Vlog��ýLR faculty members during the 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards Ceremony April 14 at the ��Vlog��ýLR George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. “It’s quite an honor, and it’s quite humbling, because there are a lot of deserving people at the university,” he said. Geissler, the recipient of the Bailey Teaching Award, will receive $10,000 from the Bailey Foundation. Since higher education has greatly enriched Geissler’s life, he said it’s only fair to put that money back into higher education by investing it in college funds for his 10- and 13-year-old sons. As a professor, Geissler institutes what he describes as “high-involvement learning” in the classroom. His teaching style emphasizes high amounts of student involvement through client-based class projects. He has directed more than 150 of these semester-long projects, greatly benefitting thousands of students and well over 100 businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. “I think the best thing we can teach our students is how to be adaptable. Everything changes quickly, and adaptability is something employers really look for. I want my students to be able to hit the ground running when they get hired,” Geissler said. Adjoa A. Aiyetoro From an early age, Adjoa Aiyetoro learned the virtues of helping others. “I was raised by parents who believed strongly in public service,” said Aiyetoro, a ��Vlog��ýLR professor of law. “My whole life my father said the purpose of life was to serve. It’s in my nature.” Aiyetoro has been a leading voice in ending racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Her public service focuses on researching and resolving racism and its effects in the United States, with a particular focus on the need for racial justice. Ever since joining ��Vlog��ýLR in 2004, Aiyetoro has continued her lifetime of public service, which was recognized when she received the 2016 award for Faculty Excellence in Public Service and a $5,000 prize. She said serving as the director of the Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System Research Project was one of her greatest accomplishments. Aiyetoro developed a team and began researching records of hundreds of Arkansas prisoners to determine the reasons for significant racial disparities within the state’s criminal justice system. Their findings concluded blacks were more likely to receive capital murder charges than whites and were more likely to receive more severe punishment, especially the death penalty, even for the same type of conviction. Aiyetoro’s  work on this project resulted in a conference in August 2015 sponsored by  the Racial Disparities Project’s Steering Committee and has contributed to legislation to obtain support for racial impact. She has also worked as a board member of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and served as the inaugural director of ��’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “I think that public service is one of the purposes of our lives, and we have to provide community service on any of the issues that we are passionate about,” she said. “I think public service is important to create a viable and healthy society.” Shucheng Yu Shucheng Yu, an assistant professor of computer science, said he was quite surprised to be named one of the top faculty members at ��Vlog��ýLR. He received the Faculty Excellence in Research award and a $5,000 prize. “I am a very lucky person among the excellent faculty members at ��Vlog��ýLR, and it is my great honor to win this award.” Yu’s main research areas include data security, privacy in cloud computing, applied cryptography, and wireless network security. Since arriving at ��Vlog��ýLR in 2010, Yu has also been awarded six grants, three from the National Science Foundation, that total more than $1 million. In his project, “MRI: Acquisition of a Cloud Computing Infrastructure for Research and Education,” Yu successfully built the first private cloud in the state  of Arkansas. “Good research should have impact, help the community, and advance an area in technology,” Yu said. “It should also benefit the general public, and it should provide good opportunities for the next generation of young researchers.” Yu has provided many opportunities for his graduate students. Together, he and his graduate students have published 37 research articles the past five years. “I am grateful to have a good team of graduate students to work with. Without them, the research cannot happen,” he said. Since 1988, the Faculty Excellence Awards have provided a way to recognize outstanding ��Vlog��ýLR faculty. The awards program is made possible through the contributions of the Bailey Foundation, Pepsi Beverages Co., and the ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor’s Circle.]]> ��Vlog��ýLR announces winners of 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards /news-archive/2016/04/14/ualr-names-top-faculty-at-28th-annual-faculty-excellence-awards-ceremony/ Fri, 15 Apr 2016 01:52:45 +0000 /news/?p=64073 ...]]> Drs. Gary Geissler, Adjoa Aiyetoro, and Shucheng Yu have been named the top faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The three professors were named the recipients of the 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards in the categories of teaching, public service, and research and creative endeavors at a ceremony held April 14 at the ��Vlog��ýLR George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. ��Vlog��ýLR colleges nominated a faculty member in each of the three categories, and an independent selection committee chose the three university-wide winners. Geissler, a professor of marketing and advertising, will receive a $10,000 award from the Bailey Foundation as the winner of the Bailey Teaching Award. Aiyetoro, a professor of law, received the award for Faculty Excellence in Public Service, and Yu, an assistant professor of computer science, garnered the Faculty Excellence in Research award. They each will receive $5,000. Since 1988, the Faculty Excellence Awards have provided a way to recognize outstanding ��Vlog��ýLR faculty. The awards program is made possible through the contributions of the Bailey Foundation, Pepsi Beverages Co., and the ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor’s Circle. More information about the winners: Dr. Gary Geissler is known for his learning-centered approach that focuses on utilizing the most effective teaching tools, techniques, and technology. He has taught more than 20 different marketing and advertising courses. His teaching method includes the client-based class project. To date, he has directed more than 150 of these semester-long projects, greatly benefitting thousands of students and well over 100 businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Besides his client-based project teaching method, Geissler has also demonstrated his teaching quality by mentoring and sponsoring student teams in marketing competitions. Geissler has a bachelor’s degree in general business administration and a master’s degree in business administration from Louisiana State University-Shreveport and a doctorate in marketing from the University of Georgia. Dr. Adjoa Aiyetoro has been a leading voice in ending racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Her public service centers on researching and resolving racism and its effects in the United States, particularly raising awareness of the need for racial justice. In 2011, she served as the inaugural director of ��’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity. As director of the Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System Research Project, Aiyetoro developed a team and began researching records of hundreds of Arkansas prisoners to determine the reasons for significant racial disparities within the state’s criminal justice system. Aiyetoro’s  work on this project resulted in a conference in August 2015 sponsored by  the Racial Disparities Project’s Steering Committee and has contributed to legislation to obtain support for racial impact. She has also worked as a board member of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Aiyetoro has a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, a master’s degree in social work from Washington University, and a juris doctor from Saint Louis University. Dr. Shucheng Yu’s main research areas include data security, privacy in cloud computing, applied cryptography, and wireless network security. His most influential work, “Achieving  Secure, Stable, and Fine-grained Data Access  Control in Cloud Computing,” represents  a milestone in the field of cloud computing  security and has been cited over 1,000  times. In the past five  years, Yu and his graduate students  published 37 research articles. Yu has also been awarded six grants that total more than $1 million. In his National Science Foundation-funded grant, “MRI: Acquisition of a Cloud Computing Infrastructure for Research and Education,” Yu successfully built the first private cloud in the state  of Arkansas. This cloud has served as a critical platform for researchers as well as others outside  the university on various research and education projects. Yu has a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.]]> ��Vlog��ýLR announces 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards nominees /news-archive/2016/04/11/2016-faculty-excellence-awards/ Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:33:23 +0000 /news/?p=64003 ...]]> ��Vlog��ýLR will honor some of its top faculty at the 2016 Faculty Excellence Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 14, at the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology Auditorium. The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a ceremony, followed by a reception. The event is free and open to the public. The annual event celebrates the excellence of faculty in three categories – teaching, research, and public service. Each ��Vlog��ýLR college has nominated a faculty member, and an independent selection committee will choose three university-wide winners. The winner of the Bailey Teaching Award will receive $10,000 from the Bailey Foundation. Winners of the Faculty Excellence in Research and Faculty Excellence in Public Service awards will receive $5,000. For more information, contact the Office of the Provost at 501.569.3204. The following is a list of the college-level nominees: TEACHING • Gary Geissler, professor of marketing and advertising • Kristen McIntyre, associate professor of speech communication and director of the Communication Skill Center • Jess Porter, associate professor of geography • Ann Robinson, professor of educational psychology and the founding director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education • Kelly Terry, associate professor of law and co-director of the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning • Ningning Wu, professor of information science RESEARCH • Theresa Beiner, Nadine Baum distinguished professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs • Stephanie Farewell, associate professor of accounting • Clifford Franklin, associate professor of audiology and speech pathology • Julien Mirivel, associate professor of speech communication and interim chair of the Department of Criminal Justice • Michael Warrick, professor of sculpture • Shucheng Yu, assistant professor of computer science PUBLIC SERVICE • Adjoa Aiyetoro, associate professor of law • Samuel Atcherson, associate professor of audiology • Joe Felan, associate professor of management • John Kirk, George W. Donaghey distinguished professor of history and director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity • Karen Kuralt, associate professor of rhetoric and writing • Thomas Wallace, advanced instructor of information technology and information science]]> ��Vlog��ýLR to host Best Teachers at ��Vlog��ýLR panel discussion /news-archive/2016/03/07/ualr-best-teachers-ualr-panel-discussion/ Mon, 07 Mar 2016 16:16:23 +0000 /news/?p=63646 ...]]> Three of the best instructors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will share their secrets for successful teaching during a panel discussion. ��’s Academy for Learning and Teaching Excellence (ATLE) will host the Best Teachers at ��Vlog��ýLR panel discussion Thursday, March 17, in Donaghey Student Center Room G. The event will feature three ��Vlog��ýLR teachers who were recognized with 2015 Faculty Excellence Awards in teaching. Lunch will begin at noon, followed by the panel discussion at 12:30 p.m. “All three faculty members were recognized by their colleagues with Faculty Excellence Awards in teaching in 2015 for their incorporation of engaging teaching methods, their willingness to teach beyond traditional classroom walls, and their use of assessment to help inform their teaching,” said Dr. Kristin Mann, co-director of ATLE. Panel members include Dr. Tom Tudor, professor of management; Christy Jackson, advanced instructor of mathematics; and Dr. Terrence Cain, associate professor of law. Tudor was the university’s 2015 recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in teaching. Jackson was the college winner for the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, while Cain was the college winner for the William H. Bowen School of Law. Tudor will discuss ways to motivate students to stay interested in learning and to connect the importance of the subject beyond a final grade in the classroom. “I think it is important to have a passion for whatever subject you are teaching,” Tudor said. “If you are not excited about it, don’t expect students to like the subject either. I assume that all my students want to learn. While I do not have 100 percent control over student learning efforts, I do have 100 percent of the control over learning methods. It is my responsibility to find ways to help every student learn that wants to learn.” For more information, please contact ATLE at 501.682.8459 or atle@ualr.edu.]]> ��Vlog��ýLR recognizes faculty excellence at 27th annual awards ceremony /news-archive/2015/04/17/ualr-recognizes-faculty-excellence-at-27th-annual-awards-ceremony/ Fri, 17 Apr 2015 21:10:14 +0000 /news/?p=61516 ...]]> The three professors received the awards at a ceremony held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in the ��Vlog��ýLR George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology Auditorium. A reception followed in the lobby. Each award consists of a framed certificate and a cash gift of $10,000 for teaching and $5,000 in research or creative endeavors and in public service. The ceremony recognized college-level and university-level winners in each category. For the past 27 years, the free, public event has provided a way to recognize outstanding ��Vlog��ýLR faculty. The awards program is made possible through the contributions of The Bailey Foundation, Pepsi Beverages Co., and the ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor’s Circle. Winners were selected by a panel of national judges who reviewed the achievements of the college-level winners. More about the winners: Dr. Jeffrey Gaffney has used research on climate change to make the world a better place by providing data to influence energy policy and participating in community outreach. As the mentoring coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Global Change Education Program, he has aided student research and fellowships with the goal of increasing scientists prepared to address climate change. The program was designed while Gaffney was at Argonne National Laboratory. Gaffney has also contributed to the Southeast U.S. National Assessment of Climate Impacts. His efforts were recognized by a nomination for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, andEngineering Mentoring, given by the National Science Foundation. Gaffney has Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in chemistry from the University of California at Riverside. Dr. Nitin Agarwal is a pioneer in the social computing discipline who has helped open many doors for innovation for the scientific community. He studies the modern and complex systems of information communication technologies, which is a connection between humans and computers that give rise to many interesting sociotechnical behaviors—a prime example of which is social media. These behaviors also include cyberactivism, crowdsourcing, health 2.0, hacktivism, and cyber warfare among others. Agarwal has received eight federal grants – seven of which are currently active – with total funding of more than $2 million. By analyzing the social media-led campaign organization efforts of the Saudi Arabian women, Agarwal is developing methodologies to advance the understanding of interconnected collective actions conducted through modern social and information systems. Agarwal has a Ph.D. in computer science from Arizona State University and a B.Tech. in information technology from the Indian Institute of Information Technology. Dr. Thomas Tudor is constantly updating his knowledge in the discipline of human resource management and challenging his students to learn. He remains involved in the Society for Human Resource Management and the Central Arkansas Human Resource Association so he may continue to replenish himself in the human resource (HR) field. He has also published research involving worker attitudes, work stress, environmental uncertainty, corporate giving, and neglected employment legal issues. Tudor grades participation and fully utilizes technology in the classroom to track participation and engage students. Tudor’s use of a wireless device allows students to participate and alleviates the necessity to raise hands if students know the answer. This method helps students not only learn, but also makes learning fun. He has a Ph.D. in management and an MBA in general management from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.S. degree in marketing from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.]]>