Associate Professor Earns Top Teaching Honor

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Micah Hale, associate professor, civil engineering

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Micah Hale, associate professor of civil engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas, is the 2010 recipient of the Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award. This is the university’s most prestigious teaching award.

“Micah Hale has been acknowledged as an outstanding teacher by his peers, both inside and outside the University of Arkansas,” said Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs. “More than that, his ability to educate, motivate and inspire is recognized by students and alumni who have taken his courses. He is clearly deserving of this honor.”

“It was such an honor to even be nominated for the Baum Teaching Award at this point in my career, but then to receive the award was even more humbling,” said Hale. “My eight years at the University of Arkansas have been such a blessing to me professionally and personally. I have had the opportunity to teach some outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, and it has been very rewarding to be a part of their university experience. I have been surrounded by colleagues with a wealth of knowledge not only in their own fields but also in academics in general, and this has taught me so much. That's why it is so humbling, knowing that there are many outstanding professors on this campus.”

Hale teaches undergraduate and graduate civil engineering classes such as Structural Materials and Reinforced Concrete Design, and supervises undergraduate and graduate research assistants. He is also a nationally recognized researcher, both in the field of next-generation concrete materials and in educational techniques and practices.

“He is a remarkable teacher,” wrote Kevin Hall, head of the civil engineering department, in nominating Hale for the Baum award. “He is an accomplished education scholar, and he is tireless in his service to the educational mission of his profession, his university and his department.”

Hale‘s teaching philosophy has developed since he first came to the University of Arkansas.

“Then I wanted my students to learn the material. Now, I want them to understand it, and to apply that understanding to a wide range of situations,” he said. He makes a point to learn about the students in each of his classes so he can engage them and make them comfortable asking questions and discussing the material in class. He integrates lectures and lab work so students are able to experience the ways theory and design are put into practice. He also works to keep the course material fresh and relevant, so students have an advantage when they reach the job market. For example, students might be assigned to design a reinforced concrete building that is also LEED certified.

Hale was named outstanding teacher in the civil engineering department twice; he received the John L. Imhoff Outstanding Teacher award, the highest teaching honor in the College of Engineering, in 2008; and he was inducted into the university Teaching Academy in 2009.

Hale earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in civil engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He joined the University of Arkansas faculty as an assistant professor in 2002 and was made an associate professor in 2007.

He was born in Fort Smith and raised in Poteau, Okla. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have two daughters, Sarah Beth and Rebekah, and are expecting their third child in July. He has completed five marathons and hopes to one day qualify for the Boston Marathon.

The Baum Faculty Teaching Award, an annual $5,000 award, was established in 1997 by a gift from the Charles and Nadine Baum estate. Hale will receive the award during the All-University Commencement, Saturday, May 8.