Horlen among inaugural winners
in student-selected teaching award

 

Joe Horlen, head of the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M, is among a select group of top faculty at Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville who are recipients of the  first-ever Teaching Excellence Awards, a student-selected honors program launched last fall by The Texas A&M University System.

Horlen, associate professor of construction science and holder of the J.D. Charles Dewey McMullan ’58 Endowed Chair in Construction Science, is one of 80 faculty from the three universities to receive the award.

“This distinct honor is expressly designed to allow students to recognize those teachers who go above and beyond the typical expectations to deliver a first-rate education. We truly appreciate everything you’ve done,” said a letter of congratulations to faculty winners from the Student-Led Awards for Teaching Excellence, the student organization that administered the evaluations at Texas A&M.

The $1.1 million program, funded through the A&M System, was initiated by Michael D. McKinney, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, in 2008 to honor and financially reward the system’s top teachers as selected by students. For the spring 2009 semester, the program is expanding to all nine campuses of the A&M System and will increase to include the top 20 percent of participating faculty. All faculty are eligible.

“We are off to a tremendous start in our pilot year,” said McKinney. “In this time of economic hardship, I am especially happy that we can help those hard-working educators who devote their lives to our students and to the future of the state of Texas. As the teaching awards program continues to grow and evolve, I think we’ll see a positive effect on the morale of our teachers, the interactivity of our students and the quality of the classroom experience for everyone.”

The program’s inaugural award recipients will receive checks ranging from $2,500 to $10,000. Awards are based on rankings from evaluations created and administered by students, with weighting for factors such as class size.

Texas A&M had the most recipients, with 46, followed by PVAMU with 18 and Texas A&M-Kingsville with 16.

Dr. Ronn Hy, interim provost at Texas A&M-Kingsville, praised the program for rewarding teachers financially, as well as honoring them “in a way that highlights the strengths of our faculty.”

Grace Goodie, speaker of the PVAMU faculty senate and one of the university’s 18 award recipients, said the program “is not just about instructors and professors who can teach, but about those who can also help students outside of the classroom.”

Horlen holds a law degree from the Baylor University School of Law, a master’s degree in education and B.S. in agricultural education from Texas A&M University. A licensed attorney, Horlen has received numerous teaching honors since joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2002. In 2005 he was named Outstanding Junior Faculty by the National Association of Home Builders and Home Builders Institute. That year he also earned the Legal Affairs Best Paper Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering and Practice.

Horlen specializes in legal issues involving construction, with an emphasis in contracting, claims, dispute resolution, insurance, environmental regulations, labor and employment law, and product liability. He recently played an instrumental role in drafting building performance standards for the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

 

- Posted: March 9, 2009 -



- the end -

 




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