Honors College Celebrates Outstanding Faculty
The Honors College recognized six faculty members at the annual Honors College Faculty Reception Thursday, Feb. 13, at Gearhart Hall. This year, awards were presented in the Distinguished Leadership and Distinguished Research and Teaching Faculty Award categories.
"This years' 'Distinguished 6' creatively combines leadership in honors with extraordinary intellectual service as mentors of undergraduate research, who invite honors students into their research world at an intensive level," said Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College. "Congrats to 'the 6' and to their home colleges."
Jennie Popp, associate dean of the Honors College, presented a bronze medallion to the award winners, who were introduced by representatives from their respective colleges. Each winner will also receive $1,000 in academic funding and will be listed on the Faculty Awards page of the Honors College website.
DISTINGUISHED LEADERSHIP
Noah Billig, former associate professor of landscape architecture and director of the honors program for the Fay Jones School of Architecture.
During his 11-year tenure as the director of the honors program, Billig created a streamlined, rigorous and more uniform honors curriculum for the college, doing so with collaboration from departmental leadership. Billig taught, researched and practiced in Minneapolis, Istanbul and Vienna, Austria, including working as an urban design instructor at Istanbul Technical University and as a landscape designer for Arzu Nuhoglu Peyzaj Tasarim in Istanbul.
His courses were always popular with students. In fact, his 2021 interdisciplinary seminar, Sustainable Cities, remains one of the school's most applied-for courses. In the course students examined key challenges to sustainable cities in the 21st century, such as urban sprawl, inequitable access to resources, environmental injustices, threats to urban water quality and waterbodies/watersheds, loss of countryside, habitat and farmland and more. His Design-Thinking workshop with honors scholars was also a tremendous success whenever it was offered.
Anne Velliquette, teaching associate professor of marketing and director of the retail program in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
Velliquette served as faculty director for the Sam M. Walton College honors program from January 2021 to July 2024. During her time, six new honors colloquium courses were added, and the maintenance GPA improved from 3.5 to 3.75 while the number of honors hours required increased. She provided workshops and guidance that increased the number of students receiving funding for study abroad travel by 33 percent. Velliquette also improved and redefined the thesis capstone project process by formalizing five new study pathways to better align with student career goals. She serves as an adviser for honors students and supported 10 honors students on their capstone projects during her time as director of the program.
Velliquette worked with the Young Alumni Advisory Council and the international company Accenture to develop networking events and panels that prepare Walton honors students for career fairs and their future careers. Thanks to this effort, Accenture, a Fortune 500 company, began hiring U of A graduates in 2021 and actively recruits every year for internships, case competitions and full-time positions.
Lisa Wood, adjunct professor and former assistant dean of student success in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.
Wood served as director of the college's honors program from July 2019 until her retirement this year. Throughout her tenure, Wood served honors students to ensure they experienced successful, rewarding and value-added honors program ventures. Approximately 201 students graduated with honors from the college while she directed the program.
With the assistance of Isabel Whitehead-Adams, the Proposal Development and Research Methods honors course was re-developed and is now a mandatory course for all Bumpers College honors students. Faculty mentors have noted the value of the course in guiding students through their proposal development and presentation skills.
While on faculty in Bumpers College, Wood mentored or co-mentored 19 honors students in the college and served on an additional 34 honors student committees, several of those for students outside Bumpers College. Even after retirement, she continues to mentor three honors students and serve on several other committees in an effort to ensure students are not negatively impacted by her departure.
Recognizing those in the position before her, Wood is clear in stating that the Bumpers Honors Program is exceptional not because of one director, but as the result of many outstanding faculty mentors and staff dedicated to undergraduate student success.
DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH AND TEACHING
Kristian (Kris) Allee, professor and Doyle Z. Williams Chair in Professional Accounting in the William Dillard Department of Accounting of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
Allee teaches honors accounting to incoming freshman and relishes the opportunity to break down stereotypes associated with accounting and accountants. In his classes, he emphasizes that accounting is about creating and analyzing financial information to make better decisions and that accounting is the language of business. Students learn about the amount, nature, timing and uncertainty associated with a firm's earnings and cash flows and how to create and understand financial statements. He loves to have fun in class but also fosters a challenging and integrative learning experience. He takes advantage of honors students' curiosity, diligence and focus to create a memorable and unique accounting experience for them.
Allee is also a leading researcher in financial accounting whose research has been published in top accounting journals and enjoys working with a variety of people, organizations and universities to create a global research program. Over the years, he has guided honors research on various topics such as cybersecurity in accounting, corporate social responsibility in the airline industry, business process automation, the art and science of underwriting and many others. Allee says that working with so many exceptional students on their research projects has been a highlight of his experience at the U of A.
Adnan Alrubaye, assistant professor and associate director of the Graduate Program in Cell and Molecular Biology in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.
Alrubaye appreciates his students' fresh perspectives, curiosity, and their dedication that enriches his research program. He believes their contributions are vital to advancing understanding of bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) lameness in broiler chickens, enabling meaningful progress in identifying the bacterial species responsible and developing effective mitigation strategies to reduce its incidence.
Alison Turner, teaching assistant professor of architecture and director of community education in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.
Turner has served honors students in various capacities. She teaches an honors section of Environmental Technology I, a core course for architecture students, and has expanded the program by adding honors sections to elective courses as well.
Turner says that the most rewarding aspect of her work has been mentoring students individually through their honors capstone projects. She works closely with students who are considering their potential projects over multiple semesters, beginning with an independent study. This extended timeline allows Turner to guide students as they refine their research, structure their written work, prepare for travel, plan physical projects and connect with relevant interest groups. Some recent capstone projects she has supported include: Avery Lake's The Creation of Intergenerational Playspaces, Virginia Hammond's Utilizing Biomimicry to Design Sustainable Architecture, and Anindhitha Sudhakaran's Early Childhood Educational Tools through an Architectural Perspective.
Contacts
Laurie Marshall, editor
Honors College
479-575-2024, lauries@uark.edu
Shelby Gill, director of communications
Honors College
479-575-2024, segill@uark.edu