The Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announced its annual awards during a celebration held in April. The awards recognize outstanding faculty and staff accomplishments.
The ceremony was held in the East Club of Neyland Stadium, and two students contributed to the ambiance of the evening. Jenny Walters performed as a member of the band Ready for Rain and Meg Hutchinson, a marketing and supply chain management student, created the flower arrangements.
This year the Superior Customer Responsiveness Award went to Jocelyn Wesolowski in graduate programs for her dedication to assisting MBA students. One student wrote of Wesolowski in her nomination, “Jocelyn is amazing. Whatever we need, whenever we need it, she is there.”
The Tim Williams Staff Award for Professionalism was given to Elizabeth Ferguson, an administrative specialist in the Department of Accounting and Information Management. Nominators noted Ferguson’s attention to finding the root of problems, presenting several possible solutions and executing chosen solutions seamlessly.
Michelle Molter, an administrator in the Department of Management, received the Innovation and Creativity Award for her work developing the department’s newsletter and redesigning its reception area.
Matthew Serfling, an assistant professor of finance, received the Vallet Family Outstanding Researcher Award. In just three years with the college, Serfling’s work has garnered six publications, four of which appeared in premier journals.
The Richard C. Reizenstein award for outstanding commitment to students was presented to Jackie Jacobs, a senior lecturer in management and faculty advisor for UT’s Management Society. One of her students wrote, “I have never felt a teacher care more about my success. Even on the first day of class, she engaged us and made the classroom feel like an incredible learning environment. ”
Cindy Raines, a distinguished lecturer in marketing, was awarded the Allen H. Keally Excellence in Teaching Award for her ability to engage students in the classroom and her commitment to giving students real world experience. Her students described her classroom as climate filled with laughter where it is safe to share ideas.
Russell Crook, the First Tennessee Foundation Professor, was awarded the Martin and Carol Robinson Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service Award. This award recognizes the college’s best ‘all around’ faculty, and Crooks’ research productivity, work with doctoral management students and high teacher evaluation ratings were all commended.
The Bank of America Faculty Leadership Award went to Mary Holcomb for her many years of service in the marketing and supply chain department, publication prowess within the field of transportation and commitment to students.
The Diversity and Inclusion Award was presented to the Full-Time MBA program for supporting the success of its diverse student population through programs such as the business diversity consortium and Women in Business Entrepreneurship and Leadership Summit, among others.
In addition to the awards presented at the event, several faculty and staff members were honored for their service during separate awards ceremonies held in recent months.
In the MBA Program Awards, the Outstanding First Year Faculty Award was presented to Neeraj Bharadwaj and the Outstanding Second Year Faculty Award was presented to Dan Flint. Randy Bradley and Bogdan Bichescu jointly received the Students’ Appreciation Award.
The Master of Science in Business Analytics awards recognized Bogdan Bichescu for Outstanding Commitment to Students and Sean Willems for Excellence in Teaching. Ifedapo Adeleye received the Master of Science in Human Resource Management’s Outstanding Faculty Award.
During the executive education awards, Roger Cutrell and Tom Brown were recognized with staff awards for best technical support and administrative support, respectively, to the Physician Executive MBA. Chuck Noon received the Outstanding Teaching Award for the program and Phillip Daves was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award.
Jim Reeve and Alex Miller received the outstanding faculty awards for the Aerospace and Defense MBA and Professional MBA, respectively. Priscilla Wisner won the outstanding faculty award for the Executive MBA for Strategic Leadership, Executive MBA for Healthcare Leadership and the Executive MBA for Global Supply Chain Leadership.
