Smith School Honors 10 Exceptional Teachers with Krowe/Legg Mason Awards

For the past 20 years, the Smith School has been honoring and rewarding outstanding faculty members, instructors and PhD students for their teaching excellence. The Smith School community submitted 124 nominations for 58 teachers for the 2005-06 Krowe/Legg Mason Teaching Awards and 10 emerged as winners. (see list below)

Allen Krowe, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Maryland, established the Krowe Excellence in Teaching Awards at the Smith School in 1986 to recognize and promote excellence in teaching to reward innovation in the classroom. Since the establishment of this award, Krowe has shown a sustained and continuing interest in teaching and education at the University of Maryland.

"I am very pleased to announce the winners of the Krowe/Legg Mason awards for 2005-2006," said Arjang Assad, senior associate dean of the Smith School. "Thanks to the generous endowment of Allen J. Krowe and the support from Legg Mason, all awards carry cash prizes. I congratulate the winners and all the nominees."

This year, the panel of judges included faculty members Frank Alt, Joe Bailey, Judy Frels, and William Mac McClenahan. The judges selected the winners from nominations solicited by the Teaching Enhancement Committee (TEC) from the Smith community (faculty, administrators, students, and alumni).

Congratulations to 2005-2006 Krowe / Legg Mason Award Winners:

William DeWitt (Logistics, Business & Public Policy): Recognized for his high-quality instruction in the classroom, his involvement with Logistics, Transportation, Supply Chain Management (LTSCM) student groups and activities, and his cross-functional interests and efforts to strengthen Smiths undergraduate programs.

Hassan Ibrahim (Decision & Information Technologies): Recognized for his outstanding teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, his leadership as an advisor to the BITS student group, and his improvement of the upper-level information systems course material.

Jeff Kudisch (Management & Organization): Recognized for outstanding teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, frequently cited for his accessibility to students outside the classroom, his ability to inspire students to learn, and assistance to other faculty in improving their courses.

Kazim Ruhi (Decision & Information Technologies): Recognized for outstanding teaching in quantitative courses at the undergraduate level, dedication to all students, and commitment to ensuring that all students understand the course material.

PhD Students / Lecturers: 
Simon Bensimon (Marketing)
Mary Harms(Marketing)
Yun Liu (Finance)
Jeffrey Miller(Logistics, Business & Public Policy)
Merv Yeagle(Marketing)

Legg Mason Teaching Innovation Award: 
Charles Olson (Logistics, Business & Public Policy) 
The judges felt that Olson's efforts in redesigning the undergraduate senior honors courses (BMGT493 and BMGT494) significantly improved the opportunity for undergraduates to access the specific learning skills needed for their career development and academic pursuits.

Faculty Finalists for the Krowe Teaching Excellence Award 
Wilbur Chung, Logistics, Business & Public Policy
Natasha Foutz, Marketing 
Elinda Kiss, Finance

PhD Student and Adjunct Finalists for the Krowe Teaching Excellence Award 
Adriana Rossiter, Logistics, Business & Public Policy
Tashfeen Sohail, Accounting & Information Assurance

The Smith School offers congratulations to all winners! For more information about teaching at Smith and past award winners, visit http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/teaching.