NEW ORLEANS – Top educators around the Sun Belt Conference were recognized today as the league announced its first-ever Faculty Member of the Year Awards.
This award recognizes a faculty member from each Sun Belt institution who displays valuable classroom skills such as developing relationships, being a good communicator and showing a passion for teaching, engaging and inspiring students, while also separating themselves from their peers outside the classroom by regularly attending athletics events and displaying enthusiasm for the athletics department.
"These educators continue to go above and beyond to positively impact the lives of students and student-athletes at our Sun Belt universities. We are honored to recognize their dedication to student success on their respective campuses," said Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill.
The concept for the award originated at the Sun Belt’s 2018 Fall Meeting during conversation between the Sun Belt Ambassadors, a collection of student-athletes from around the conference, and Faculty Athletic Representatives. It was then decided that each institution would submit an honoree to the conference office to recognize annually.
The Sun Belt Conference’s 12 honorees come from nearly 10,000 full-time faculty members. The combined enrollment across the conference is more than 160,000 students with student-athletes comprising more than 3,100.
2019 FACULTY MEMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD RECIPIENTS
Appalachian State
Amanda C. Howell
Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences
Amanda Howell’s genuine and sustained enthusiasm for student success in her classes after nearly a decade of teaching is evident to her Appalachian State colleagues and students. Howell has served as a Senior Lecturer since 2016 and is a two-time finalist for the Non-Tenure Track Excellence in Teaching Award.
Howell graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2002 and received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Wake Forest University in 2006.
Most recently, Howell participated in a Course (Re)Design workshop provided by the Center of Academic Excellence at App State, where she believes “experiences such as those keep her teaching fresh.”
Howell’s “positive attitude and willingness to help students is unlike any other professor” and the way that Howell has a unique way of “presenting material, making the class inclusive, is approachable and understanding.”
Little Rock
Rachel E. Tennial
Department of Psychology
Dr. Rachel E. Tennial, is a stand out professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the Department of Psychology. As a social psychologist, she is primarily interested in examining different facets of human behavior and interaction.
In addition to teaching the students at Little Rock and performing research, Dr. Tennial is a member of the, Arkansas Association of Black Psychology Professionals (AABPP), Boys and Men of color Opportunity Success Team (BMOST), Phi Kappa Phi, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Society for Teaching Psychology, Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research Network (iEMBER), and College of Social Science and Communication Research and Creative Activities Committee.
Tennial has been teaching at the collegiate level for nine years, and will be introducing a new course in Fall 2019 called Psychology of Identity.
In addition to her astonishing resume, Dr. Tennial is a two-time recipient of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Student Advocate Award, along with the Society for Teaching Psychology Early Career Travel Grant Award.
Dr. Tennial completed her education at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and African-American Studies, her Master of Science (Research) in Experimental Social Psychology, and her Doctorate of Philosophy in Experimental Social Psychology.
Arkansas State
Shane Hunt
Department of Management and Marketing
Dr. Shane Hunt’s presence at Arkansas State is felt, not only in the classrooms that he teaches, but also along the sidelines where he cheers.
Active on numerous national committee, Hunt most recently received the 2019 National Teaching Innovation Award presented by the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators. In 2018, Hunt was named the Outstanding Faculty Partner for the Advancement Learning by Arkansas State University and was the 2015 Arkansas State Honors Professor of the Year.
One of Hunt’s biggest professional highlights is publishing two leading Principles of Marketing textbooks with McGraw Hill, with a third edition being published in January 2020.
Hunt received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in 2007, majoring in Marketing and minoring in Management, and graduated with his M.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1999, and his B.B.A. in 1998, majoring in Marketing and minoring in History.
“Dr. Hunt genuinely cares for his students, and always puts their education first. Furthermore, Dr. Hunt invests his own time into Arkansas State’s athletic program,” said women’s golfer and recent graduate, Monica Lieving. “So many students are drawn to him because he is always promoting athletic events.” Baseball’s Carter Holt added, “Dr. Hunt is the most passionate person I know. He comes to work every day excited to teach and makes it fun for his students to learn. His commitment to the university and its students does not go unnoticed.”
Coastal Carolina
Deborah Breede
Department of Communication, Media & Culture
As voted on by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, this year’s Sun Belt Conference Faculty of the Year Award Winner is Dr. Deborah Breede. A Professor of Communication, Dr. Breede teaches communication and women’s and gender studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as serving as the coordinator for the graduate programming in the Department of Communication, Media & Culture at Coastal Carolina University.
Over the years, Dr. Breede has received numerous accolades, including the 2009-2010 ZONTA Gold Star Award awarded by ZONTA International. In addition, on campus, Breede has also garnered the 2018-2019 Coastal Carolina Student-Athlete Faculty Member of the Year Award and the 2010-2011 Patricia Singleton Young Award for Outstanding Student Advocacy awarded by the CCU Office of Student Activities and Leadership.
“Dr. Breede has gone above and beyond the call of duty not only for student-athletes but the student body in- general,” stated Kelsey Briggs a recent women’s track student-athlete graduate and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President. “Dr. Breede is well known as an avid fan of Coastal Carolina’s student-athletes. She is always cheering them on in their sport and in the classroom.” Additionally, Ethan Howard, a communications major and football student-athlete at CCU stated, “Dr. Breede is an amazing teacher and is always pushing for you to reach your full potential.”
Breede earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of South Florida in 2005 and M.A. in Communication in 1999 from Florida Atlantic University.
Georgia Southern
William Brian Dowis
School of Accountancy
Dr. William Brian Dowis teaches in the School of Accountancy at Georgia Southern University, where his main areas of research interest include both archival and behavioral taxation.
Dowis has been honored throughout his career, receiving awards such as the KPMG Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Gender Issues and Worklife Balance (GIWB) Section of the American Accounting Association, Georgia Southern University’s Michael W. Skinner School of Accountancy Excellence Fund Award, and the Accounting Association Professor of the Year.
Dowis received his Doctorate in Business Administration in Accounting from Louisiana Tech University, Masters in Professional Accountancy from Clemson University and BSBA in Accounting from Coastal Carolina University, where he also played on the tennis team.
“Dr. Dowis is able to create a relationship with his students that not only facilitate learning the material, but inspires them to become a better version of themselves,” said Santiago Suarez, a rising senior on Georgia Southern’s men’s tennis team.
Georgia State
Kris Varjas
Director of the Center for Research on School Safety, School Climate, and Classroom Management
Georgia State’s Dr. Kris Varjas is a Professor in School Psychology and Director of the Center for Research on School Safety, School Climate, and Classroom Management. She joined Georgia State in 2000 and is currently the Chair for the Georgia State University Senate Committee on Athletics. Her research efforts include school- and community-based projects investigating social emotional learning, mental health, psychological well-being, bullying, cyberbullying, and school climate.
“Dr. Varjas was inspirational in my career path to teach our youth in today’s society,” said former GSU softball student-athlete and fall 2018 graduate Ivie Drake. “Barriers were eliminated with her support at Georgia State to allow me to complete the Early Childhood Education degree while representing our university as a collegiate softball student-athlete. I’m extremely appreciative of her support.”
Varjas has published articles investigating school climate, bullying prevention and intervention and positive behavior supports in the Journal of School Violence, Journal of School Psychology, Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, Professional School Counseling, School Psychology Review and TEACHING Exceptional Children.
Dr. Varjas earned her Psy.D. in School Psychology from the University of Albany in 2003.
Louisiana
Ruben D. Henderson
Assistant Director of Student Activities
Ruben D. Henderson is the Assistant Director of Student Activities at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Marketing, and Legal Studies from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is currently working on his Master of Business Administration degree.
Henderson is an active member of the UL Lafayette staff and serves on numerous committees across campus and is an active member of the University Athletics Committee and of the Ragin' Cajuns Athletics Department Strategic Planning Steering Committee.
Henderson has been awarded several honors including the 2019 Southwest Champion of Service Award, the 2019 Tribute to Excellence Award from the National Association of University Women, and the 2019 Carreathers-Scott Innovative Advisor Award from the Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference.
Henderson is a source of inspiration to the Ragin Cajun student-athletes. As one student-athlete said, "You not only showed me that there is more to college than sports, you showed me that I have a lot of value in myself. Thank you for paving a path for me.”
ULM
William Hey
School of Allied Health
Dr. William Hey, an alumnus of ULM, is a Professor of Kinesiology in the School of Allied Health. A former basketball player at then-Northeast Louisiana University, Hey graduated with a degree in Physical Education. He went on to earn the MEd from Northwestern State University and his PhD from Southern Illinois University.
A professor at ULM since 2015, Hey teaches undergraduate courses in the Sport Management concentration and in the Exercise Science concentration of Kinesiology. He also serves as graduate coordinator for the MS in Exercise Science.
Hey has been recognized more than 10 times for his work as an educator and researcher, including, most recently, the Sport Professional of the Year Award from SHAPE America Southern District.
Hey "goes out of his way to help student-athletes," from "asking about the season school balance" to preparing them for life beyond graduation.
South Alabama
Alan Chow
Department of Marketing and Quantitative Methods
Dr. Alan Chow is an associate professor in the Department of Marketing and Quantitative Methods in South Alabama's College of Business. Chow has degrees in Quantitative Business Analysis, Finance, and Instructional Design and Development from Louisiana State University and the University of South Alabama.
Dr. Chow was promoted to associate professor in 2015, has authored at least 30 scholarly articles and was a recipient of the 2006-2007 "Top Prof" award from Mortar Board National Honor Society and the USA Student Government Association.
It is safe to say Chow's reputation for supporting South Alabama's student athletes is significant. One student indicated "the second I came to college he was the person I could always trust to go to whenever I struggled in class or just wanted to talk to about my future goals. He always been a huge supporter of South’s athletics. He’s always helping fellow athletes and is always willing to listen and get to know his students personally."
UT Arlington
Bethany Shaffer
College of Liberal Arts
Bethany Shaffer has had a tremendous academic impact on innumerable students and student-athletes alike at UT Arlington, where she has served as a lecturer in the Department of English since 2011. Her work and dedication to UTA was rewarded in 2016 when she was bestowed with the prestigious honor of Faculty Advisor of the Year – one year after being named an Honorable Mention for the award. Prior to beginning her tenure at UTA, Shaffer received the O’Neill Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010.
Shaffer received her Master of Arts in English from Youngstown State University in 2006 after receiving her undergraduate degree in English from Mercyhurst College in 2004.
In a testament to Shaffer’s commitment and quality of teaching, UTA volleyball rising senior Madison Hill had the following to say about Shaffer: “She is the most caring and passionate professor that I’ve had throughout college.” Additionally, UTA track & field member Mackenzie Molina stated: “I nominated Professor Shaffer because I feel that she is amazing at her job, understands the difficulty of being a student-athlete and is willing to help me be successful in the classroom and on the track.”
Texas State
Amy Perry
Department of Political Science
Amy Perry is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Political Science and also serves as an academic advisor in the Personalized Academic and Career Exploration (PACE) center that provides advising to freshmen students at Texas State University.
Perry received the Texas State Alpha Chi National Honor Society Favorite Professor Award for spring 2019 and was honored to be selected to chair a panel discussion at the Southern Political Science Association Conference on the topic of Innovations in Teaching and Learning with the Core Curriculum, Pleading Pathos – Pedagogical Approach to Fake News.
A volleyball student-athlete said, “Professor Perry is one of the most caring and inspiring teachers I have ever had. She puts her student’s education before anything and allows for a fun learning environment. If all college professors were like her then everyone would enjoy their college experience.”
Perry obtained a M.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in History from Texas State University.
Troy
Michael Orlofsky
College of Communication and Fine Arts
Michael Orlofsky is an English professor in Troy University’s College of Communication and Fine Arts. In addition, Orlofsky serves as Faculty Marshal for Troy University Commencement Ceremonies and is a member of the Hall-Waters Prize Steering Committee.
Orlofsky earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Jacksonville State University, master’s degree in English with an emphasis in writing from Penn State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop
A highlight of Orlofsky’s professional career includes Receiving Troy University’s Ingalls Award.
“Mr. Orlofsky truly is an exceptional example of a students’ teacher. He always puts his students first and ensures their success in everything they do,” stated rising sophomore and Troy football student-athlete, Austin Stidham.