Honors College Recognizes Exceptional Faculty, Staff

Honors College faculty, from left to right, Marcia Imbeau, Christian Hofer, Lynda Coon, Ed Clausen and Bob McMath. All photos by Matt Reynolds.

Chancellor G. David Gearhart thanks honors faculty members for their efforts.

Lynda Coon, receives Distinguished Faculty Award.

Interim Dean Curt Rom congratulates Christian Hofer while the Chancellor looks on.

Chancellor Gearhart congratulates Marcia Imbeau.

Provost Sharon Gaber announces the Distinguished Leadership Awards.

Dean Rom and Ed Clausen celebrate Clausen’s award.

Gary D. Ferrier received the Distinguished Leadership Award.

Maribeth Lynes is the first staff member to receive the Distinguished Leadership Award.

The Chancellor congratulates Honors College Dean Emeritus Bob McMath.

Photo Submitted

Faculty honored by the Honors College in 2014 include (l-r) Marcia Imbeau, Christian Hofer, Lynda Coon, Ed Clausen and Bob McMath. Not pictured: Gary D. Ferrier and Maribeth Lynes. Photograph by Matt Reynolds.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Honors College recognized seven faculty and staff members during the annual Honors College Faculty Reception for their ability to set the bar for teaching, research and leadership especially high.

“This year’s honorees have done an exceptional job in helping us to attract, retain and graduate the U of A’s top honors students,” said Curt Rom, interim dean of the Honors College. “It was a difficult decision to select just seven from among many. We are grateful to all of our faculty members for providing transformative learning experiences for these bright students.”

Chancellor G. David Gearhart, Provost Sharon Gaber, and Dean Rom presented bronze medallions to this year’s Distinguished Faculty Award and Distinguished Leadership Award recipients.

The 2014 recipients of the Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award are:

Lynda Coon, associate dean, professor of history and director of the Religious Studies Program, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Coon’s research focuses on the history of Christianity from circa 300-900. She has mentored some 20 honors theses on topics ranging from Matthew Owens’ “Taming the Dead: Ghost Stories and Church Identity in the Tenth through Twelfth Centuries” to John Terry’s “Nostalgia in the Historical Writings of the Venerable Bede,” with the latter title being selected for publication in Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal. Coon helped to launch the Honors Humanities Project (H2P) in 1995 and continues to be actively involved in the four-semester sequence of courses, which is a defining experience for many Honors College students. With colleague Kim Sexton, associate professor of architecture, Coon received Honors College seed funding to develop Medieval Bodies/Medieval Spaces, an interdisciplinary honors colloquium that traces the evolution of western medieval history through text, ritual and built environments. She served as the honors adviser in the history department for a decade, and has participated in approximately 35 honors student thesis committees. She has previously been recognized with the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award (1998) and the Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award (2000). She is a member of the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy.

Christian Hofer, associate professor of supply chain management, Sam M. Walton College of Business. Hofer’s research examines how companies learn from and copy rivals’ logistics and operations management activities in an effort to gain competitive advantage. He has served as adviser to numerous honors students on projects that colleagues have praised as especially interesting and professional. His student Catherine Craig’s thesis, “Pricing Behavior Under Financial Duress: Empirical Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry,” received the 2011 Walton College Outstanding Thesis Award.

Hofer is a founding member of the Walton College Honors Council and continues to represent the department of supply chain management on the council. He has also supported honors students by serving on a number of thesis committees and writing numerous letters of recommendation. Hofer was awarded the Walton College Outstanding All Around Faculty Award in 2014.

Marcia Imbeau, professor of special education, curriculum and instruction, College of Education and Health Professions. Imbeau’s research focuses on how classroom teachers at all grade levels can tailor instruction to the diverse learning needs of their students. Under her guidance, honors students have explored innovative approaches to support English language learners, foster creativity in the classroom, and motivate young children to read. She has directed 11 honors theses, served on 24 thesis committees, and currently advises more than 50 honors students in the childhood education program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Imbeau serves on her college’s honors council, where she chairs the curriculum/study abroad committee and helps to organize the annual Honors Research Symposium.

Imbeau previously received Outstanding Teaching Awards (2000, 2003) and the Outstanding Advising and Mentoring Award (2011) from the College of Education and Health Professions, and the Faculty Gold Medal from the U of A Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (2011). She is a member of the U of A Teaching Academy.

Three faculty members and one staff member were recognized with the Honors College Distinguished Leadership Award:

Ed Clausen, interim department head and professor, Ralph E. Martin Leadership Chair in Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering. Clausen has taught in the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering since 1981, and fostered the honors community as director of the College of Engineering honors program from 2009-14. Under his leadership, engineering student participation in honors grew 44 percent. His most recent research focuses on education: he has helped to engage engineering students in hands-on internship and cooperative experiences and graduate studies through a grant funded by the National Science Foundation. Clausen also has participated in a series of grants funded by the Arkansas Department of Education that focus on supporting Arkansas middle school teachers in the implementation of Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Clausen hosts summer programs in chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas for a wide range of K-12 students.

Clausen’s prior teaching awards include the College of Engineering Imhoff Outstanding Teaching Award (2010), the Midwest Section of the American Society for Engineering Education Outstanding Teaching Award (2011) and the University of Arkansas Imhoff Award for Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship (2013).

Gary D. Ferrier, University Professor and holder of the Lewis E. Epley Jr. Professorship in Economics, Sam M. Walton College of Business. Ferrier has twice served as director of the Walton College Honors Program. His contributions in this role include the development of the Walton College Festival of Undergraduate Research, where graduating honors students can share their research with faculty, their parents and each other. Ferrier also worked to tailor the Walton honors program to the business field by allowing student business plans to fulfill the honors thesis requirement, noting that a well done business plan requires a great deal of research and analysis. He also oversaw the development of a peer-mentoring program for freshman honors students.

Ferrier’s current research focuses on hospital efficiency and productivity. He has directed a number of honors theses, on topics ranging from an analysis of the inequity of success between African American and white entrepreneurs to the role the World Trade Organization plays in settling trade disputes between the U.S. and the European Union. His student Erin Walker’s 2002 thesis was selected for inclusion in Inquiry. Ferrier has also mentored students competing in business plan competitions. He previously received Walton College’s awards for Outstanding Research (1995), Best “All-Around” Faculty (1996), Excellence in Teaching (2006), Excellence in Service (2009) and Excellence in Diversity Initiatives (2011). He is a member of the U of A Teaching Academy.

Maribeth Lynes, assistant dean of recruitment emeritus, Honors College. Lynes helped launch the Honors College fellowship program shortly after the $300 million Walton Gift was announced in 2002. Upon her retirement in September, she and her team had recruited more than 1,000 of the best and brightest students from Arkansas and beyond to accept fellowships, and helped the Honors College to almost double in size while continuing to support a very high level of student success.

In addition to recruiting top students, Lynes has worked to expand access to higher education in the region. As director of the Honors College’s annual Advanced Placement Summer Institute, a weeklong workshop focused on training AP teachers, she has helped to increase the number of AP-certified teachers and expand AP course offerings throughout the southwest region. She has held numerous leadership positions in admissions and recruiting organizations and currently serves as chair of the Southwest Regional Council of the College Board. In an effort to expand access to the honors experience, Lynes also proposed the idea for the new Path Program, which prepares talented students from underrepresented populations to excel at the U of A.

Bob McMath, dean emeritus, Honors College and professor emeritus of history, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Founding Dean Bob McMath built a strong foundation for the Honors College during his nine-year tenure, providing the vision and framework that have made the college nationally prominent. Under his leadership, the Honors College was ranked 17th in “Overall Excellence” in the first national study of the top 50 public honors programs and ranked third out of 50 in “Excellence Impact.” McMath put the university at the forefront of national trends by awarding more than $500,000 in grants that provided seed funding for 30 interdisciplinary courses on topics ranging from the digital recreation of ancient Roman cities to nanotechnology. He also shepherded the completion of a permanent home for the Honors College in the expanded Ozark Hall and the renovation of Hotz Hall as a well-appointed residence hall for honors freshmen.

McMath carved time out of his schedule to mentor honors undergraduate and graduate student research and to teach H2P and honors colloquia on topics related to his research on American and comparative populist movements.

Thanks to McMath’s responsive leadership, he succeeded in building strong ties between the new Honors College and faculty and administrators across campus, as well as with donors, educators and other key contacts off campus. He and his wife Linda have left a lasting legacy by committing $100,000 to endow a scholarship for students enrolled in the new Path Program.