Dr. Foy Mills was named a Distinguished Educator by the NACTA Executive Committee in June 2012 at the organization’s conference in River Falls, Wis.
“He is a gifted and dedicated educator who is very deserving of this recognition and honor, said Dr. Ed Brokaw, professor of animal science and A&E department chair. “I have known Foy for more than 25 years and was delighted to be able to recruit him as a member of our faculty in 1989.”
Mills attended his first NACTA conference at SUNY-Morrisville in June 1990 at the urging of Brokaw, his ACU department chair, colleague and friend, and he has missed only one conference in 23 years.
Foy considers NACTA to be instrumental in his development as a university professor. Workshops, presentations, ideas, friendships, networking, etc. experienced through NACTA have all contributed to his professional growth.
Foy was honored to be named a NACTA Teacher Fellow and the Southern Region Outstanding Teacher in 1997. In 1998, the agribusiness program he developed at Abilene Christian University received the NACTA John Deere Award. From 1999-2003, he served as National Advisor for the Honor Society of Delta Tau Alpha. Then in 2007, he was humbled to receive the NACTA Teaching Award of Excellence. He has also received teaching, advising and service awards while serving as a faculty member at ACU.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Lubbock Christian University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Texas Tech University. After serving as a faculty member at ACU the past 23 years, ten of those years as chair, he will begin a new phase of his career beginning this fall as professor of agribusiness at Sam Houston State University.
“I am grateful that as a teacher, my fingerprints are on the future,” Mills said.