System Teaching Excellence Awards Honor TAMIU Faculty
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M University System has awarded $712,150 to outstanding faculty throughout the System for the fall 2009 presentation of the Teaching Excellence Awards, a voluntary, student-selected honors program.
The 207 faculty winners, including 13 at Texas A&M International University, represent the top 20 percent of those who participated in the A&M System program. The top 5 percent are awarded $5,000 to $10,000. The next 15 percent receive $2,500 to $5,000. Awards are based on rankings from evaluations by students, with weighting for factors such as class size.
Winners in the top 5 percent category at TAMIU are: Cecilia Gutíerrez, Claudia San Miguel and Jerry Thompson.
Winners in the 15 percent category are: Jose J. Cardona Lopez, Patricia G. González, Warren J. Graffeo, Carlene M. Henderson, Michael R. Kidd, Diana Linn, Lola O. Norris, Andres Rivas-Chavez, Bernice Y. Sánchez and Dalia G. Treviño.
Chancellor Michael D. McKinney initiated the Teaching Excellence Awards in 2008 to honor and financially reward the system’s top teachers as selected by students. All faculty members who teach at least a 3-hour course are eligible.
“It’s important that we provide a way for our teachers to be recognized for their excellence in the classroom,” said McKinney, “Especially when it’s the students, the ones directly affected by teaching, who have taken the time to nominate those who have affected their lives so positively.”
To date, 433 faculty members in the A&M System have received $1.5 million in excellence awards funds since the program started in 2008.
About the A&M System
The A&M System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $3.2 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, seven state agencies and a comprehensive health science center, the A&M System educates nearly 115,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. Externally funded research expenditures exceed $730 million and help drive the state’s economy.
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