Michael J. Burnett of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Dr. Andrew B. Wallace of the Department of Physics and Geosciences, and Dr. Joseph I. Satterfield of the Department of Physics and Geosciences are the winners of Angelo State University’s 2018 President’s Awards for Faculty Excellence.
2018 Faculty Excellence Awards Winners and Nominees They, along with 28 other faculty nominees, were honored at the ninth annual Faculty Recognition Dinner sponsored May 3 by the ASU Faculty Senate.
Burnett is the award winner for Faculty Excellence in Leadership/Service. Wallace received the award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. Satterfield is the award winner for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor. Each received $2,500 and Signature Presidential Recognition Awards. Wallace and Satterfield will be ASU’s nominees for the Texas Tech University System Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research.
Michael Burnett An associate professor of theatre, Burnett is also assistant director of ASU’s University Theatre program and directs several student theatre productions every year. He also serves on the Athletics Advisory Committee, Core Curriculum Committee, Faculty Senate and several other campus committees. He is the faculty advisor for the Alpha Psi Omega national theatre honor society, lends lighting and sound design expertise to several other departments for their events, and performs public address announcing for several ASU athletic teams. Also active in state and national theatre initiatives, Burnett is a member of the Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA), serves on the National Committee of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) and is vice chair of KCACTF Region 6. As regional vice chair, he has been responsible for bringing more than 800 college theatre students and faculty to ASU for the Region 6 Festival each fall for the last four years. In the local community, he serves as a technical advisor for the Be Theatre Company, San Angelo Performing Arts Center, Angelo Civic Theatre, San Angelo Civic Ballet and multiple Concho Valley public schools. He is also a merit badge counselor for Boy Scouts of America Troop 363 and serves as an elder at St. Paul Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Andrew Wallace Wallace, a professor of physics, is a subtle, effective and innovative teacher who arrives early, leaves late and is always willing to help students, regardless of whether they are actually in his classes. He consistently earns high scores on all aspects of students’ IDEA evaluations, particularly in the “Excellence of Teacher” category, and regularly mentors undergraduate research projects. By telling stories, building analogies and conducting laboratory demonstrations before he ever poses a mathematical problem, Wallace guides students to solve complex problems that may have otherwise intimidated them into inaction. He also continually works to improve his teaching by visiting with high school teachers about the needs of current and future students – and by incorporating ideas from industry publications like The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics. An ASU faculty member for nearly three decades, he is also a mentor to younger faculty, both in his department and others. In his previous capacity as dean of the ASU Freshman College, he developed a campus-wide view of teaching, retaining, advising and mentoring freshmen, including the creation off the first Signature Courses that are becoming a hallmark of each student’s first semester at ASU. Capable of teaching any physics or physical science course in his department, he has stepped in to cover early faculty departures. He also teaches Physics I, the first course for physics majors, helping retain students at that critical juncture and subsequently generating record-breaking graduating classes. He is truly a student-centered teacher in every sense of that phrase.
Dr. Joseph Satterfield Satterfield, a professor of geology, is an award-winning researcher who successfully mentors student research projects while also conducting and publishing his own research efforts. Each semester, he develops and leads multiple geology field trips for students, traveling as far as the Big Bend Region of West Texas, New Mexico and Nevada. He has mentored student projects and co-published research findings on fossils in Big Bend, mapping of previously unmapped areas in Nevada, and the folds and faults of Sierra del Carmen, among many others. For his research students, he emphasizes learning skills in global positioning, geologic mapping, precision field notes and sketches, problem solving in the field, and writing field reports. He has also generated more than $200,000 in grants to fund geologic mapping and other geosciences research in West Texas, and his research students have a perfect record of gaining entry into graduate school or industry jobs after graduating from ASU. Over the last five years alone, Satterfield has mentored about 20 student research projects and presented 15 abstracts, including invited presentations at professional conferences. He has served as the academic director of the Texas Academy of Science and maintains active membership in the San Angelo Geological Society, West Texas Geological Society, Geological Society of America and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. As the first faculty member for ASU’s geology program in 2003, he has played a principal role in fashioning the research curriculum, as well as in the continuous growth of the program. His accolades include a Distinguished Professor Award from the AAPG and the admiration of his students and fellow faculty.
In addition to the overall winners, four semifinalists in each category received a $500 award. For Excellence in Leadership/Service, the semifinalists were Lesley L. Casarez, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Karen Cody, professor of French and Spanish; Christine L. Purkiss, associate professor of teacher education; and Gayle L. Randall, senior instructor in management and marketing.
Semifinalists for Excellence in Teaching were Shirley M. Eoff, professor of history; Vincent P. Mangano, senior instructor in accounting; Sandra K. Pate, associate professor of management; and Jeffrey B. Schonberg, professor of English.
For Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor, the semifinalists were Anthony N. Celso, professor of security studies; Jon C. Ellery, professor of English; Matthew J. Gritter, assistant professor of political science; and Ben R. Skipper, assistant professor of biology.
Other faculty nominees in the Excellence in Leadership/Service category were Gustavo M. Campos, instructor in political science; Ralph Randall Hall, professor of art; John E. Irish, professor of music; Kristi L. Moore, associate professor of psychology; and William A. Taylor, associate professor of security studies.
Other nominees in the Excellence in Teaching category were are Tia L. Agan, assistant professor of education; Leah D. Carruth, assistant professor of teacher education; Laurel E. Fohn, assistant professor of biology; Ellen C. Melton, online instructor in psychology; and Raelye N. Self, assistant professor of education.
In the Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavor category, the other nominees were Jamal G. Husein, professor of economics; Brian W. Kulik, associate professor of management; Robert K. Michael, assistant professor of nursing; Amy L. Murphy, assistant professor of education; Olalekan K. Seriki, assistant professor of marketing; and Sonja Varbelow, assistant professor of teacher education.
