Formed in 2008, the Academic Development Advisory Council is comprised of many of Louisiana Tech's professors who have received awards which recognize excellence in teaching, research, and service. These professors have been the recipients of the Virgil Orr, F. Jay Taylor, University Senate Chair, and University Foundation Awards, and CAPD has invited them to share their expertise with other faculty. The Center for Academic and Professional Development will offer periodic panel discussions and seminars where these professors discuss exceptional classroom teaching, ideas about innovative research, and service.
Dr. Jenna Carpenter: University Foundation Professorship Award (2004) - Dr. Jenna Carpenter, Wayne and Juanita Spinks Endowed Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, received her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 1989 and came to Louisiana Tech that same year. Dr. Carpenter's teaching and research credentials include over $1.5 million in grant funding, eighteen refereed publications, and numerous local, state, regional and national presentations. Dr. Carpenter has served in a variety of chair, committee and board positions at the national level. She received the University Foundation Professorship Award in 2004, the Mathematical Association of America Louisiana-Mississippi Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics Award in 2004, and the American Society for Engineering Education Mathematics Division Distinguished Educator and Service Award in 2006. Dr. Carpenter is currently the Associate Dean for Administration and Strategic Initiatives in the College of Engineering and Science and has served in that capacity since September 2008.
Dr. Mel Corley: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (1991-92); University Senate Chair Award (1997-98) - Dr. Melvin Corley is the Century Telephone Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Construction Engineering Technology. He received his Ph.D. in 1973 from the University of Texas at Austin. He served on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology prior to joining the Mechanical Engineering Department at Louisiana Tech in 1980. He chairs the Campus Computing Services Coordinating Committee. He received the F. Jay Taylor Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1992 and the University Senate Chair Award in 1998.
Dr. Bill Deese: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (1995-96); University Senate Chair Award (1991-92) - Dr. William Deese, the T. W. Ray Johnson Professor of Chemistry, earned his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry in 1982 from the University of Arkansas, and has been a faculty member at Louisiana Tech since August of 1981. Dr. Deese has more than twenty publications in international journals, and his research interests are in organometallic chemistry and science education. Dr. Deese received the University Senate Chair Award in 1992 and the F. J. Taylor Teaching Award in 1996. He was the first recipient of the William Craig Outstanding University Educator Award given by the Louisiana Science Teacher's Association in 2001.
Dr. David Hall: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (2005-06);Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2001-02) - Dr. David Hall, the James F. Naylor, Jr. Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 1995 and came to Louisiana Tech that same year. Dr. Hall's teaching and research credentials include more than thirty publications and recognition as the recipient of both the Virgil Orr Junior Faculty Award in 2001 and the F. Jay Taylor Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2006. Dr. Hall is currently the Program Chair for Mechanical Engineering and coordinates the freshman engineering courses in the College of Engineering and Science.
Dr. Tony Inman: University Foundation Professorship Award (2005) - Dr. Tony Inman, the Ruston Building & Loan Professor, received his D.B.A. from Memphis State University in 1988. Now in his 20th year at Louisiana Tech, he previously taught for three years at Middle Tennessee State University. Dr. Inman is a Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management (CFPIM) and was the recipient of the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Professorship Award in 2005, the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research in 1993, and was ranked 17th nationally in "POM Research Productivity in U.S. Business Schools," Journal of Operations Management, 1996. He has had more than 50 articles published in academic journals.
Dr. Don Kaczvinsky: University Foundation Professorship Award (2007) - Dr. Donald P. Kaczvinsky received his Ph.D. from Penn State in 1990 and is a Full Professor in the Department of English. The author of over 50 publications and presentations on twentieth-century British literature, Dr. Kaczvinsky is President of the International Lawrence Durrell Society, a member of the Advisory Board for Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Journal, and the 2007 recipient of the Louisiana Tech Foundation Professorship Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service. He is currently Director of the School of Literature and Language and holds the George E. Pankey Eminent Scholar Chair in English.
Dr. Kimberly Kimbell-Lopez: University Foundation Professorship Award (2006) - Dr. Kimberly Kimbell-López, the The Hubberd H. & Velma Horton Bouchor Endowed Professor, received her Ed.D. from the University of Houston in 1997. Dr. Kimbell-Lopez's teaching and research credentials include two books and seventeen articles along with numerous presentations at the local, state, regional, national, and international level. She was awarded the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Professorship Award in 2006. She was also the recipient of College of Education's Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership's Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award, and the Outstanding University Clinical Faculty for 2006-2007. Dr. Kimbell-Lopez is currently an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership where she teaches classes at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.
Dr. David Mills: University Foundation Professorship (2007-08) - Dr. David K. Mills, the Marvin T. Green Jr. Endowed Professor in Pre-Medicine and Director of CATALyST (Center for Applied Learning to Yield Scientific Thinking) holds a joint appointment at the Institute for Micromanufacturing and CyBERS (Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science). He received his Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Mills joined the faculty at Louisiana Tech University in 1994. He is the Biotechnology Thrust Leaders and also serves on the Leadership Team at the Institute for Micromanufacturing. He has over 40 papers published in national and international journals of education, engineering and science. He received the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Professor award in 2008. In the College of Applied and Natural Sciences, he has received the Outstanding Researcher award in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, the Outstanding Teaching/Director award in 1999, 2005, and 2007, and the Outstanding Director of Undergraduate Research award in 2000. He has also received the Service to the College Award from the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University in 2003.
Dr. Lori Myers: Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2004-05) - Dr. Lori A. Myers is the Merle L. and Virginia M. Borchelt Endowed Professor and Assistant Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences Education in the School of Human Ecology. She earned her Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 2007. Dr. Myers has taught numerous undergraduate courses, including several utilizing online delivery, since starting at Louisiana Tech in 1999. Her research and grant endeavors have focused on enhancing leadership skills in undergraduate students, securing updated technology and curriculum resources for Human Ecology students, and developing curriculum materials for university and secondary instructors. She has served in several state leadership positions, including State President for both the Louisiana Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Louisiana Association for Career and Technical Education. Dr. Myers has made numerous presentations at state, regional, and national conferences and serves on a variety of departmental, college, and university committees.
Mrs. Anita Pumphrey: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (2007-08);Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2001-02) - Anita Pumphrey earned her B.S. degree in Child Development and Family Studies from Purdue University and her M.S. degree in Human Ecology from Louisiana Tech University. She is a Certified Child Life Specialist and worked with pediatric patients and their families at St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe before beginning her teaching career in 1995. She is actively involved in her professional organization, The Child Life Council, currently serving as Chair of the Education Committee and previously serving on the Certification Committee to assemble the professional certifying examination. She has been awarded 11 grants for child life instruction, has authored/co-authored 10 publications, and has over 30 presentations at local, state, and national conferences. She was awarded the Virgil Orr Undergraduate Junior Faculty Award in 2002 and the F. Jay Taylor Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2008. Through the College of Applied and Natural Sciences, she has also received the Outstanding Instructor of Introduction Courses award (1999), the Outstanding Instructor of Upper Level Courses award(2001, 2004), and the Outstanding Faculty Advisor award (2003). She has also been recognized with the Mary Belle Tuten Award for Outstanding Advisor/Mentor in the School of Human Ecology (2003, 2008). Mrs. Pumphrey also serves as Chair of the Honor Council for the University, Chair of the Practica/Internship/Cooperative Education Committee for both the College of Applied and Natural Sciences and the School of Human Ecology, and is Faculty Advisor to the Child Life Student Association.
Dr. Dorothy Robbins: Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2006-07) - Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2000. Prior to joining the English Department at Tech, she was an assistant professor of English and Chair of Humanities at Dakota Wesleyan University. In 1995 she received a Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students from The Parents Association and The Teaching Council of Nebraska-Lincoln. At Louisiana Tech, Robbins received the 2007 Virgil Orr Undergraduate Junior Faculty Award. Her publications include three literary anthologies, for which she served as co-editor, and numerous articles, reviews, and essays. In addition to teaching courses in British literature and technical writing, Robbins is the faculty advisor for members of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society.
Dr. Lee Sawyer: Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2002-03) - Dr. Lee Sawyer is the Spruell Endowed Professor of Physics, Physics program chair, and the Director of Chemistry and Physics in the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech. Dr. Sawyer has a long history of research in experimental particle physics, earning his Ph.D. from Florida State in 1991 on work performed at the LEP collider at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. He worked as a postdoc with the University of Texas at Arlington on experiments at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab near Chicago, and the Superconducting Supercollider, which was to be built in north Texas. He came to Louisiana Tech in 1997, establishing a collider-based particle physics group and securing Federal external support. He has taught physics at every level, and is the recipient of the Virgil Orr Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, the Louisiana Tech Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award, and the Engineering and Science Foundation faculty award for research.
Dr. Larry Sellers: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (2001-02) - Dr. Larry Sellers teaches in the School of Biological Sciences, and has been with Louisiana Tech University since 1974, having instructed more than 30,000 students. Originally trained as an entomologist, he taught that subject until the course was discontinued in 2000. His primary responsibility is freshman courses for both majors and non-majors plus a summer course in Medical Ethics. He is the Chair of the Premedical-Predental Advisory Committee, and in this capacity he is responsible for guiding students through the courses and requirements necessary for application to professional school, including the annual four days of "premed interviews" that each student must attend to receive the recommendations necessary for application. In addition to the F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award, Dr. Sellers also received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in 2004.
Dr. Rick Simmons: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (2004-05); University Senate Chair Award (2003-04) - Dr. Rick Simmons, the George K. Anding Endowed Professor of English, received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1997 and came to Louisiana Tech that same year. Dr. Simmons' teaching and research credentials include more than thirty publications and a book, and recognition as the recipient of both the University Senate Chair Award in 2004 and the F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award in 2005. Dr. Simmons is currently the Director of the Center for Academic and Professional Development, and has served in that capacity since June 2008.
Dr. Gary Stokley: F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award (2003-04) - Dr. Gary Stokley, Associate Professor of Sociology, has been a faculty member at Louisiana Tech since 1971 and received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Louisiana State University in 1980. Dr. Stokley has been active in teaching, academic and
organizational advising, research, and community service. He has been selected by his colleagues twice to serve as Chair of the University Senate (1982 and 2000), and he has received two university awards in relation to advising and teaching: he was the first recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in 1995 and was awarded the F. Jay Taylor Teaching Award in 2004. His research involves conducting over 125 Public Opinion Surveys for agencies and individuals throughout the region, he is a a Registered Pollster in the State of Louisiana (1980 to present), and he serves on numerous non-profit boards in the community and surrounding area.
Dr. David Szymanski: Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2007-2008) - Dr. David Szymanski, assistant professor of Exercise Physiology and Director of the Applied Physiology Laboratory, received his Ph.D. from Auburn University in 2004 and came to Louisiana Tech the following year. Dr. Szymanski's teaching and research credentials include more than twenty publications and recognition as the recipient of the Virgil Orr Undergraduate Junior Faculty Award in 2008, the Outstanding Faculty Research Award for the College of Education in 2007 & 2008, and the Distinguished Researcher in the Department of Kinesiology in 2007 & 2008. He was also received the National Strength & Conditioning Association's Strength & Conditioning Journal Editorial Excellence Award in 2007.
Dr. Amy Massey Vessel: Virgil Orr Teaching Award (2005-06) - Dr. Amy Massey Vessel received her Ed.D. in elementary education from The University of Alabama in 2000 and came to Louisiana Tech that same year. Dr. Vessel has provided professional development initiatives to more than 20 Louisiana school systems across the state through over a million dollars in grant funding and presented more than 50 national, regional, state and local education workshop presentations. She was the 2006 Virgil Orr Teaching Award recipient, and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership.
