Six faculty honored with Dean's Awards

hesse steiner
Hesse Gallaher Steiner

coalter ury lim
Coalter Ury Lim

Northwest's College of Arts and Sciences and the Melvin and Valorie Booth College of Business and Professional Studies recently announced their fall trimester Dean's Faculty Awards for outstanding teaching, research and service.

This year's Arts and Sciences winners are Dr. Brian Hesse, assistant professor of political science (teaching); Dr. John Gallaher, assistant professor of English (research/creative work); and Dr. Mike Steiner, associate professor of history (service).

The Booth College winners are Dr. Terry Coalter, associate professor of marketing and management (teaching); Dr. Gary Ury, assistant professor of computer science and information systems (research); and Dr. Chi Lo Lim, associate professor of marketing and management (teaching).

The awards are based on work from the previous academic year. Faculty members are nominated through their departments, with finalists and winners selected by department chairs and ultimately by the deans of the two colleges: Dr. Charles McAdams (Arts and Sciences) and Dr. Tom Billesbach (Booth College).

Winners receive a plaque and a stipend for travel or supply funds to be used during the subsequent academic year. These funds are in addition to other University travel or supply monies awarded to the recipient.

A brief summary of the accomplishments of each winner or excerpts from letters supporting their nominations appear below:

Arts and Sciences

Dr. Brian Hesse (teaching) has received the Mortar Board Society's Top 10 Faculty of the Year Award, the Northwest Panhellenic Council's Teacher of the Semester Award and the Northwest chapter of Sigma Kappa's Most Inspirational Teacher Award.

Hesse is deeply involved with the Northwest Model United Nations Club, and, since 2004, he has guided weekly seminars with members as they prepare for mock UN sessions at the regional and national level.

Dr. John Gallaher's (research/creative work) "The Little Book of Guesses" won the Levis Poetry Prize and was published by Four Way Books. He also published seven new poems and has 19 more forthcoming in a variety of literary journals. Gallaher was invited to give readings of his work eight times during the past academic year, and he presented "The Democratization of Difficulty: Ashbery at 80" at the Associated Writing Programs conference in Atlanta.

Dr. Mike Steiner (service) is the coordinator and adviser for the social science education program within the Department of History, Humanities, Philosophy and Political Science. He maintains an advisee load of approximately 85 students, teaches a section of Freshman Seminar for majors every year and advises during summer orientation (SOAR). He also spends significant time writing recommendations and helping students complete senior statements, applications for professional education and applications for student teaching.

Each trimester, Steiner teaches the Senior Seminar for all science education majors, coordinates the dual credit program in American history and serves on the Valk renovation and scholarship committees. He also coordinates the pre-exit and exit ACAT exams for social science and history majors, as well as the department's online Content Exit Exam.

Booth College of Business and Professional Studies

Dr. Terry Coalter (teaching): "Dr. Coalter's teaching has consistently been solid, and this past academic year is no exception. As evidence of his teaching abilities -- beyond the semester-end teaching evaluations -- one needs look no further that the fact that Dr. Coalter was selected to lead off the Booth College's new Liberty MBA program. Of course this was due in large part to his teaching reputation -- students simply like him and his teaching style, and students simply want to take his classes. It is also noteworthy that he gets such favorable student evaluations while maintaining academic standards in the classroom."

Dr. Gary Ury (research): "During the 2006-'07 academic year, Dr. Ury prepared eight articles that were published in national journals or national proceedings. He also made four presentations at national conferences. … Dr. Ury has been very supportive of other faculty members' research efforts in working with them jointly to write various articles."

Dr. Chi Lo Lim (service): "Dr. Lim's service to students, the department and the University is without equal. In her department, she carries the heaviest service workload. Dr. Lim is faculty adviser to more than 70 departmental majors and several student organizations, including Omicron Delta Kappa (a leadership society) and the Asian Students Association. She oversees student internships and mentored three faculty during the 2006-'07 academic year. A partial list of her additional service activities includes: college-level ACBSP Compliance Committee, including service as the self-study for reaccreditation; Faculty Senate president-elect; Graduate Council; One-Time Course Offering Committee Chair; Strategic Planning Council; Leon F. Miller Graduate Grant Committee; John Sublett Logan Foundation Scholarship Committee; and service as an FBLA conference judge."

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone (660) 562-1704
Fax (660) 562-1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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