Four outstanding faculty members will be honored at the annual “Celebration of Faculty Excellence,” scheduled for Thursday, May 6, at 3 p.m. in the NDSU Alumni Center.
Elias Elias, J.F. Carter Durum Wheat Breeding and Genetics Endowed Professor, will receive the Waldron Award for Excellence in Research; James Clifton, assistant professor of accounting practice, was chosen for the Odney Award for Excellence in Teaching; and Jeanne Frenzel, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, was selected for the Peltier Award for Innovation in Teaching. Also to be recognized is Dennis Cooley, associate professor of philosophy and ethics, who was selected for the Chamber of Commerce NDSU Distinguished Professorship Award. The NDSU Development Foundation sponsors the Odney, Waldron and Peltier Awards.
“NDSU is blessed with great faculty,” said Craig Schnell, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “The competition for these excellent awards this year was especially keen. With each award, there were at least four very qualified nominees.”
Elias receives the Waldron Award, which was established to recognize outstanding faculty research. In a letter of nomination, Ken Grafton, dean of agriculture, food systems and natural resources and director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, wrote “Dr. Elias has made consistent and excellent research contributions in durum wheat research and scholarship that directly address the needs of North Dakota agriculture. His impact in plant breeding and genetic research has been felt worldwide.”
Elias joined the NDSU faculty in 1996. Other honors include the Larson/Yaggie Excellence in Research Award - Early Career and the U.S. Durum Growers Association’s “Durum Man of the Year.”
Clifton receives the Odney Award, which has been presented since 1972 in honor of the late Robert Odney, a former Fargo businessman and longtime supporter of NDSU. A total of 34 students, faculty members and former students nominated Clifton for the honor. They lauded his interactive class sessions and real world learning situations.
“He pushes his students to do their best in class,” wrote Chelsey Swanson, a senior in the accountancy program, noting Clifton has received seven Accounting Professor of the Year awards from the NDSU Accounting Club. “Professor Clifton has touched the lives of many students at NDSU.”
Herbert Snyder, associate professor of accounting and information systems, wrote Clifton “is among the very best classroom teacher I have known” and he “embodies the best of teaching at NDSU.”
A certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner, his other honors include the Innovations in Accounting Education Award by the American Accounting Association, the Hubbard Award by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, NDSU College of Business Teacher of the Year and the Bison Ambassadors’ Apple Polisher Award.
Frenzel receives the Peltier Award, which was established by Joseph and Norma Peltier to recognize outstanding innovation in teaching.
Donald Miller, chair of pharmacy practice, wrote Frenzel is the coordinator for the Thrifty White Concept Lab, a licensed pharmacy to teach students through the curriculum. “Dr. Frenzel is a master at coordinating the multiple activities going on in each lab section,” he said. “She has excelled in continuously developing innovative educational activities for the lab.”
Frenzel and her colleagues obtained a grant from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy/American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy to purchase electronic medical record software. Miller said Frenzel uses online video clips via Blackboard where pharmacy students were filmed asking for self-care recommendations for over-the-counter products. In addition, she also has used podcasts in her teaching.
“Dr. Frenzel’s work has created a more realistic practice through the leadership, design and development of laboratory activities to bridge the gap between didactic lecture and pharmacy practice,” wrote Rebecca Focken, Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience director and assistant professor of pharmacy practice.
Frenzel also was named 2008 North Dakota Distinguished Young Pharmacist.
Cooley will be recognized as the Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Professor. In a letter of nomination, John Cox, professor and head of history, philosophy and religious studies, said Cooley is recognized as a caring, rigorous and entertaining teacher. “Committed. Intellectually rigorous. Affable. Articulate. Widely read and conversant. Consistent. Work ethic to beat the band. Pillar of the department. Pardon the sentence fragments – but I want to drive home the point that Dennis Cooley is a rare property among academics,” Cox wrote.
Cooley joined NDSU in 2002. He previously received the NDSU College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Researcher of the Year Award.