The College of Business honored May, August and December 2012 graduates at the COBA Senior Dinner on May 11th. Held in the Teague Special Events Center, Corbin Cross, Senior Accounting major from Southlake, Luz Hernandez, Senior Marketing major from Sulphur Springs, and Kendall Lundschen, senior Computer Science major from San Antonio represented their fellow graduates in addressing the crowd of 380 graduates, family members, friends, faculty and staff. They challenged the class of 2012 to pursue their dreams, their friendships, and their relationship with God on a deeper level. Mr. Matt Corbin, father of Drew Corbin, spoke on behalf of parents to the graduates, urging them to treasure the friendships they have made at ACU, have pride in their alma mater, and forge new friendships with fellow ACU alumni all over the world.
The Senior Class voted for and honored a faculty member from each department with the Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Alfa Nyandoro, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, received the School of Information Technology and Computing Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Nyandoro’s students have said that he “goes above and beyond trying to make his courses fun and as hands on as possible. He has a real desire to see students succeed and do well. He has a genuine enthusiasm and passion for the subject matter. His kind attitude and his desire to communicate effectively to students is incredible”.
Dr. Terry Pope, Professor of Finance, received the Accounting and Finance Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Students stated that Dr. Pope “has a great love for the Lord and pours this into all of his classes. He truly cares about his students and their success both in and out of the classroom. It shows in the way that he conducts his classes, speaks to students, and opens his home to students for dinner.”
Mike Winegeart, Assistant Professor of Marketing, received the Management Sciences Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Professor Winegeart’s students remarked that he is “passionate about Christianity’s role in business. He focuses on the truth and what God’s point of view is. He gets students actively involved in class, relating class to real life business examples and helps prepare students outside of the classroom for the business world while challenging them spiritually”.
Dr. Rick Lytle, Dean of the College of Business, also gave four Dean’s Service Awards. Dr. Ian Shepherd, Associate Professor of Management, received the Dean’s Award for Innovation for applying mobile and distance learning tools to teach economics in novel ways. His work has been spotlighted nationally and he, along with Dr. Brent Reeves, will serve as Mobile Learning Fellows at ACU for 2012.
Associate Professor Bill Fowler, Chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Dr. Don Pope, Chair of the Department of Management Sciences, and Dr. Brad Crisp, Director of the School of Information Technology and Computing, received the Dean’s Award for Service and Leadership. Dr. Lytle commended them, stating that “although their work is often unseen and under-appreciated, our academic chairs perform a valuable and necessary service to our programs. They teach, research, attend meetings, counsel, build curriculum, allocate resources, attend meetings, provide assessment, oversee faculty development, design programs of study, and attend meetings as they serve the needs of faculty and students. In short, they are the front line leaders who deliver what it is we produce and sell.”
If you would like to see more pictures of the dinner, please follow us on facebook by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/ACUCOBA. We congratulate the outstanding faculty award winners and the graduating class of 2012 and we offer this blessing; “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).