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2013 Faculty and Staff Awards Reception Recognizes Excellence at CBA

The 2013 Faculty Awards Reception for the College of Business Administration was held, Thursday, April 25 at the Van Brunt Visitors Center. Dr. Donde Plowman, the James, Jr. and Susan Stuart Endowed Dean of CBA, presented the awards to the thirteen award recipients.

The award winners with comments included from the presentation:

University Distinguished Teaching Award (Tenure Track/Tenured Faculty)

Geoffrey Friesen

Dr. Geoffrey Friesen and Dean Plowman

Dr. Geoffrey Friesen, Associate Professor of Finance

Friesen came to CBA after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He has consistently achieved excellence and recognition for both his research and teaching. He collaborates extensively with Ph.D. students and also brings an enthusiasm to his classes that helps engage both student interest and achievement. Friesen teaches upper level coursework in investments, security analysis, portfolio practicum and other Ph.D. seminar level work. One student nominator said, “Dr. Friesen should be recognized for his outstanding teaching. It’s the best teaching I have had in the finance department.”
 

Excellence in Teaching Award (Non Tenure Track)

Geoffrey Friesen

Dr. Carlos Asarta and Dean Plowman

Dr. Carlos Asarta, Associate Professor of Practice of Economics

Asarta came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to attend school and compete on the Husker swim team. After receiving his B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. from CBA, he joined the faculty in 2007. He has received numerous awards and recognition, and was most recently awarded the Association of the Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN) Outstanding Educator of the Year Award for large classes. One student nominator noted Asarta’s “passion not only for economics, but also for teaching.” Students praised him for making economics relevant to their everyday life and always making time in his schedule to advise them. One student said, “Dr. Asarta prepares you to live and do well in the real world. What we learn in his class is not something you can find on the internet or learn on our own. He cares about his students and does not want to see us fail in class or the real world.”
 

Distinguished Service Award and University Kudos Award

David Hartline

David Hartline and Dean Plowman

David Hartline, IT Manager

Hartline has been a constant presence in the IT Services staff at CBA for more than five years. He has worked his way up from part-time student worker to become the IT Manager for the college. Nominations for Hartline noted his attention to “drop what he is doing to help out anyone in CBA.” He fills in the gap between IT and building facilities by taking the initiative to help manage building signage or get a lock rekeyed. Hartline maintains patience, stays calm and treats everyone he helps with respect. On one occasion, he even took action when a medical emergency happened at the college and not only made the 911 call for the patient, but stayed with them until the paramedics arrived.
 

MBA Distance Teaching Award (co-winners)

Emre Unlu

Dr. Emre Unlu and Dean Plowman

Dr. Emre Unlu, Associate Professor of Finance

Unlu is a three-time recipient in this category. He started at CBA in August 2007 and last year was promoted to Associate Professor of Finance. His expertise is in corporate finance. His students report he gets them to not only learn the information, but also critically think through why financial principles work and how they are interconnected. This is challenging to do in any online course, but the students said he asked the key questions that   get them interested in the subject.
 

Steve Welton

Steve Welton and Dean Plowman

Steve Welton, Assistant Professor of Practice of Marketing
 
Welton has made a tremendous impact during his first year at the college as Assistant Professor of Practice of Marketing. As an instructor in the MBA Distance Program, he has used guest speakers and videos to make topics such as marketing globalization more relevant to students. He invites professionals working in the industry to talk directly with his students about what they experience in the workplace. The Distance Program delivers the same excellence as the On-Campus Program, and Steve has shown how to provide quality at a distance.
 

Graduate Student Teaching Award

Joseph Matthes

Joseph Matthes and Dean Plowman

Joseph Matthes, Ph.D. Student in Marketing
 
Joseph Matthes, a marketing Ph.D. student, found immediate success in the classroom despite having no previous teaching experience prior to joining the Ph.D. program. He has been nominated by students for excellence in teaching and has according to a nominator, “become the go-to person for innovative lesson plans and constructive feedback concerning course preparation for both graduate students and faculty alike.” New Ph.D. students are assigned to shadow him and learn from his approach in the classroom. He has a passion for teaching which is apparent by the time and energy he puts into every class he teaches. He uses simulations, discussions, debates, articles, case examples, videos, guest speakers and even his own marketing game to improve the level of learning for his students.
 

Graduate Student Research Award

Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson and Dean Plowman

Jeff Johnson, Ph.D. Student in Marketing
 
Johnson has received numerous awards and recognitions for his research during his time as a Ph.D. student at CBA. He received an Othmer Fellowship when he was recruited to CBA because of the potential he showed while working at Union Pacific prior to enrolling in the doctoral program. He has lived up to the expectations and was selected as the department’s representative to the AMA/Sheath Doctoral Consortium in 2012. His dissertation on the implementation of marketing strategies by salespeople was helped by his eagerness to work with faculty on their research. He has a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and has two other papers currently under review.
 

UNL Graduate Teaching Assistant Award

Ted Paterson

Ted Paterson

Ted Paterson, Ph.D. Student in Management
 
Paterson has a passion for teaching that shows through to his students. He embraces the idea of helping students become “active learners.” His relentless positive attitude shows through in his ability to bring real-world examples to life for business students. One technique he has successfully developed is what he calls the Hot Seat, during which two students compete to answer questions about their homework assignments. One faculty nominator noted, “In my 15 years of teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever met an instructor more engaged in the teaching endeavor than Ted.” He was a financial advisor before enrolling in the management Ph.D. program and uses his experience in the final class of every semester to advise students on how to plan for retirement, pay off debts and put their financial house in order.
 

Faculty Service Award

James Brown

Dr. James Brown and Dean Plowman

Dr. James Brown, Professor of Accountancy
 
Brown came to Nebraska from Tennessee in 1980 – the same year the AACSB independently accredited the School of Accountancy at CBA. He has served on the tenure and promotion committee for both the School of Accountancy and CBA, the graduate curriculum committee, the grade appeals committee, the multiple personnel review committees and the MBA committee. However, his long standing role as MPA Advisor in the School of Accountancy from 1986 to the present was the primary reason for his nomination for this award. He maintains an open door policy for students wanting information about the MPA Program and under his leadership the past 15 years, the MPA Program has doubled in enrollment. More than 90% of CBA MPA graduates are employed or seek continuing education after graduation. This is a testament to his tremendous work and career-long commitment to students.
 

Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Award

Arthur Allen

Dr. Arthur Allen and Dean Plowman

Dr. Arthur Allen, Associate Professor of Accountancy
 
Allen joined the college in 1989 and has shown the flexibility to teach multiple preparations from mainline undergraduate financial accounting to specialized governmental accounting for MPA students and research methods seminars for Ph.D. students. Of the seven doctoral dissertations he has chaired, three have since been published in The Accounting Review, the premier academic journal in accounting. He himself has had 29 of his research articles published in academic journals – many in top journals – including his most recent in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. He serves on three standing committees in the School of Accountancy and has provided editorial service as an ad hoc reviewer on the editorial board for nine academic journals.
 

Distinguished Research Award

Christopher Tuggle

Dr. Christopher Tuggle and Dean Plowman

Dr. Christopher Tuggle, Assistant Professor of Management
 
Tuggle joined CBA in the fall of 2012 and has made an instant impression at CBA in many ways, most notably through his quality of research. In the last three years, three of his papers have appeared in top journals including the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Journal. Tuggle has had a total of seven published research articles in the last two years, most in top journals, with others under review. His research on easing board nomination processes was also featured in the inaugural CBA Online Research Newsletter.
 

Best Paper Award (co-winners)

Seth Giertz

Dr. Seth Giertz and Dean Plowman

Dr. Seth Giertz, Assistant Professor of Economics
 
Since joining CBA in 2008, Giertz has excelled in both the publication of research articles, as well as mentions in the national media for his research. In 2012, Seth’s research paper titled, “The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review,” was published as the lead article in the March edition of the Journal of Economic Literature. The paper critically examines the elasticity of taxable income, which has quickly become one of the most important parameters in public economics. The research for the article is central to questions of economic efficiency and revenue collection – and thus also to the discussion of tax reform. The article has already been cited more than 200 times according to Google Scholar.
 


Scott Seavey

Dr. Scott Seavey and Dean Plowman

Dr. Scott Seavey, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
 
Seavey joined CBA in 2011 and immediately began making contributions to the college through his research and teaching. He had his research article titled, “Does Audit Market Concentration Harm the Quality of Audited Earnings?” published in Contemporary Accounting Research, a top four accounting journal. The paper, which was also featured in CBA’s Inaugural Online Research Newsletter, found that the concentration of market power among the Big 4 audit firms does not harm audit quality as some regulators suggest. The study was the first to provide such evidence and therefore has additional importance to regulators, companies and audit firms.
 

2013 Faculty and Staff Recognition Awards Reception Facebook Photo Album
Published: April 29, 2013