FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Teaching Academy will induct six new members and award the second annual John and Lois Imhoff Award of Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship at its annual banquet Thursday, Nov. 2.

Timothy Kral, associate professor of biological sciences in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will receive a $1,000 honorarium and a memento of service as this year’s Imhoff Award winner. The award is given to a faculty member who teaches entry-level courses and has proven to be an outstanding teacher and mentor.

Kral earned his doctoral degree in microbiology at the University of Florida, and began teaching at the University of Arkansas in 1981. He earned tenure in 1988 and served as the Liebolt Chair of Premedical Sciences from 1995 to 2002. He earned the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award in 1992, was inducted into the University Teaching Academy in 1993, and received the Fulbright College Outstanding Advisor Award in 1996.

Kral was chosen from a group of three finalists for the Imhoff Award. The other finalists, Jeannie Popp, associate professor of agricultural economics, and Jenny Xu, instructor of Chinese, will also be recognized at the Teaching Academy banquet.

The Imhoff award was created by a gift from the John and Lois Imhoff Trust to the UA Teaching Academy. The award recognizes university faculty members who have demonstrated consistent and committed excellence in teaching, instruction and mentoring, all qualities central to the mission of a student-centered institution. The recipients must be nominated by peers, including a member of the Teaching Academy, and reviewed by the academy’s award committee.

The Teaching Academy banquet will be held at Ella’s Restaurant at Carnall Hall, with social hour beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The following six faculty members will be inducted into the Teaching Academy:

• Lorraine Brewer, instructor of chemistry and biochemistry in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

• C. Richard Cassady, associate professor of industrial engineering in the College of Engineering.

• Norman Dennis, professor of civil engineering in the College of Engineering.

• Gary Ferrier, professor of economics in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

• Janine Parry, associate professor of political science in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

• Mary Savin, associate professor of crops, soils and environmental sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Lorraine Brewer — In a 30-year career in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, Lorraine Brewer has taught everything from Beginning Algebra to Organic Physiological Chemistry. She is often the first member of the department whom students encounter. She was named Chi Omega “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” for the 1997-98 school year, the same time the Order of Omega made her its “Outstanding Faculty Member.” She is a native of Illinois, and did her graduate work at the University of Wisconsin. She has a long record of service at both the university and in the Fayetteville community.

C. Richard Cassady — Last spring Richard Cassady, holder of the John L. Imhoff Chair in Industrial Engineering, won the Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award, the most prestigious teaching award at the University of Arkansas.

Cassady is a Virginia native. He earned his bachelor’s, master's and doctoral degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech. He joined the University of Arkansas in 2000 as an assistant professor in industrial engineering, earned tenure as an associate professor in 2004, and was named to the John L. Imhoff Chair in Industrial Engineering in 2006. Cassady was named Faculty Member of the Year for 2004-05 by the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering; Outstanding Researcher in the department of industrial engineering the same year; and in 2005 he received the first Imhoff Outstanding Teacher Award, for the College of Engineering. So far he has received more than a half dozen teaching awards and several research awards during his career with the university. In his role as a teacher Cassady has supervised 10 doctoral dissertations, 13 masters' theses, and two undergraduate theses.

Norman Dennis — Dennis joined the University of Arkansas department of civil engineering in 1996. Prior to that he taught at the U.S. Military Academy for more than two decades. He earned his doctoral degree at University of Texas. His specialty area is geotechnical engineering, but his passion is teaching, both undergraduate and graduate students, and mentoring junior faculty.

He has been honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers with its Excellence in
Civil Engineering Education Leadership Award for 2006. He was also selected by the American Society for Engineering Education and the National Science Foundation as a distinguished lecturer on the topics of teaching and learning. He has given teaching and learning seminars at numerous universities both in the United States and abroad.  For the past seven years he has held week-long summer workshops at the University of Arkansas for new faculty members in civil engineering designed to improve their teaching skills. The workshops are sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Gary Ferrier — Ferrier received a doctoral degree in economics in 1988 from the University of North Carolina. He joined the Walton College faculty in 1993, and was named the Lewis E. Epley Jr. Professor for Walton College in 2000. Last spring he earned the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award. His primary teaching responsibilities have been in the areas of econometrics and managerial economics. His managerial economics course adopts a nontraditional approach. Rather than preparing "business economists," the course focuses on the economics of management: how to efficiently coordinate and motivate people's actions within an organization.

Janine Parry — Parry joined the political science department at the university in 1998, after earning her doctoral degree from Washington State University. She was nominated for the Order of Omega Outstanding Faculty Member Award in 2000, and received the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award in 2002. She is also the director of the Arkansas Poll, an annual survey of Arkansans political opinions, and the issues that concern them, conducted by the political science department.

Mary Savin — Savin grew up in Massachusetts and earned her doctoral degree in biological sciences at the University of Rhode Island. She joined the faculty of Bumpers College in 2002.  In addition to her teaching duties she served as adviser to the Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Club, and has been faculty adviser for several undergraduate research projects.

The Teaching Academy is a group of faculty recognized for outstanding teaching. The group was created in 1988 by Chancellor Dan Ferritor. Founding members included everyone on the faculty who had received either the Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching or the Burlington Northern Foundation Teaching Award (now known as the Baum Teaching Award). The mission of the University Teaching Academy is "to advocate and represent teaching interests and to promote and stimulate an environment of teaching and learning excellence." Activities include organization of the annual Baum Teaching Workshop, awarding Baum teaching grants and the graduate assistant teaching award, sponsoring the undergraduate research journal Inquiry and other activities that promote excellence in teaching at the University of Arkansas.

  This year, the Baum workshop, "Grading and Assessment for the University Classroom:  Issues and Ideas," will be held on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007. All university faculty members are invited to attend.