Five faculty members from the Cockrell School of Engineering will receive the 2013 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor given by the UT System Board of Regents. In total, 26 faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin will receive the award.
The awards program is one of the nation’s largest monetary teaching recognition programs in higher education, honoring outstanding performance in the classroom and dedication to innovation in undergraduate instruction.
A total of $1.6 million will be awarded to educators from all 15 UT System institutions during a ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center on UT Austin campus. Each faculty member will receive monetary awards of $25,000.
“We are deeply grateful to the regents for their ongoing commitment to honor our very best and most dedicated faculty,” said UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa. “These awards recognize the immeasurable impact teachers have on our students, who will shape the future of our communities across Texas and the nation.”
The 2013 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award recipients from the Cockrell School of Engineering are:
- Matthew Thomas Balhoff, assistant professor and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Centennial Fellow #1 in Petroleum Engineering, Department of Petroleum and Geosystems
- Amit Bhasin, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
- Steven Biegalski, associate professor, Chevron Centennial Fellow in Engineering No. 2 and director of the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Andrew Dunn, associate professor and Roberta Woods Ray Centennial Fellow in Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Kevin Folliard, professor and Austin Industries Endowed Teaching Fellow, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
“Every day of the academic year, Cockrell School faculty educate, challenge and inspire our undergraduate students to be engineering leaders,” said Cockrell School Dean Gregory L. Fenves. “I am very pleased that five of our outstanding faculty members have been honored by the UT System’s highest recognition for distinguished teaching.”
Established in 2008, the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards program recognizes educators who deliver the highest quality of undergraduate instruction through demonstrated excellence in teaching and sustained excellence in all aspects of instruction.
Faculty members undergo a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty members and external reviewers. The review panels consider a range of activities and criteria in their evaluations, including classroom expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development and student learning outcomes.
“Undergraduate teaching is critical to the mission of our university,” said Steven Leslie, UT Austin executive vice president and provost. “During their years on campus, students are inspired to learn, think critically and solve society’s issues. These outstanding faculty members are shaping our next generation of leaders and problem-solvers. This recognition from the Board of Regents is well-deserved.”
The full list of 2013 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Awards recipients is available online.
