UNO Alumni Association issues 11th Alumni Outstanding Teaching Awards

(OMAHA, NE) � The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Alumni Association marks the 11th year of its Alumni Outstanding Teaching Awards program when it presents the honor to nine faculty members at the UNO Faculty Honors Convocation Breakfast Thursday, April 12.

Association President Lee Denker will present the awards, established in 1997 to honor distinguished teaching in the classroom. Peer committees in each college chose recipients, each of whom receives a $1,000 award. Denker will present recipients with commemorative tablets during the convocation breakfast in the Milo Bail Student Center. With the 2007 awards the association will have issued $95,000 in AOTAs since the program's start in 1997.

The 2007 UNO Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award recipients:

Phani Tej Adidam, marketing and management, College of Business Administration

Randall Adkins, political science, College of Arts & Sciences

Ann Fruhling, information systems and quantitative analysis, College of Information Science and Technology

Neal Grandgenett, teacher education, College of Education

Gary L. Krause, civil engineering, College of Engineering

Dora Matache, mathematics, College of Arts & Sciences

Jody Neathery-Castro, political science, College of Arts & Sciences

Barbara Pickering, communication, College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media

Lisa Sample, criminology and criminal justice, College of Public Affairs and Community Service

Phani Tej Adidam

Dr. Phani Tej Adidam is the executive management education professor and chairman of the marketing and management department in UNO's College of Business Administration. Adidam's prime focus is in the area of global marketing and sales strategies. He teaches in the MBA, Executive MBA and undergraduate programs, and has given seminars in Competitive Intelligence Strategies to MBA students in more than 15 universities around the world. He was voted UNO's Executive MBA Distinguished Professor of the Year in 2005, 2004 and 2000. In 2000 he also was voted UNO's Outstanding MBA Professor of the Year. Adidam received a bachelor of commerce degree in accounting from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, graduating with honors. He earned an MBA from the Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad, India, and his Ph.D. in marketing from Texas Tech University in 1996.

Randall Adkins

Dr. Randall Adkins is chair of the graduate program in UNO's department of political science. He teaches courses on American government and politics, including campaigns and elections, the presidency, and the Congress. This year his students traveled to the Harry S. Truman Museum and Library, where they toured the museum, met with archivists and participated in the White House Decision Center. Adkins also organized a visit from the bipartisan Congress to Campus program, which brought two former members of Congress (Andy Jacobs, D-IN, and Manuel Lujan, R-NM) to campus to discuss civic issues with students for three days. These projects were funded through grants from UNO's Civic Participation Project. Additionally, Adkins is a consultant for the College Board's Advanced Placement Program, advising high school instructors teaching U.S. Government. Adkins received his BS in political science from Marshall University in 1991, graduating cum laude. He earned his MA (1992) and Ph.D. (1995) in political science from Miami University.

Ann Fruhling

Dr. Fruhling's primary focus is management information systems education. She is a recognized expert in user interface design and usability, agile system development methods using eXtreme Programming, and designing emergency responses systems for public health laboratories. Fruhling has provided many opportunities for students to work with her on information technology solutions, projects, and research through grant funding of more than $1million. She received her BSBA in computer information systems from Colorado State University in 1983. She also earned an MBA (1991) from UNO and a Ph.D. (2003) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Neal Grandgenett

Dr. Grandgenett's primary focus at UNO is mathematics education. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the methods of teaching mathematics, as well as educational research. He also co-directs the College of Education's Office of Internet Studies, which facilitates various online courses and teacher professional development activities funded by organizations such as NASA and the National Science Foundation. He earned BS (1983) and MS (1986) degrees from UNO in math education and a Ph.D. in education/curriculum from Iowa State University in 1989.

Gary L. Krause

Dr. Krause's primary focus is on effective teaching and learning of structural engineering concepts. He has been a teacher at national workshops on effective teaching, where he has mentored approximately 100 engineering faculty from around the country. Krause also has led effective teaching circles at UNO. He has been awarded 10 teaching awards in the past 12 years at the University of Nebraska. His most recent efforts have focused on planning and implementing the curriculum for structures option students in the architectural engineering program at PKI. Krause earned his BS (1982) and MS (1986) in civil engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He earned a Ph.D. in from the University of Michigan in 1990.

Dora Matache

Dr. Matache's primary focus is the learning of mathematics. She teaches a wide variety of mathematics courses at UNO at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She also is involved in mathematics research projects with students, leading to several published papers in specialty journals. Matache each April also is involved with UNO's Mathematics Awareness Month, whose activities include a symposium for students working on research with faculty in the mathematics department, and a mathematics contest for area high school students. She also is involved in the development of online testing of mathematics at UNO and the Problem of the Week contest for students who want to improve their mathematics. Matache also regularly facilitates meetings/connections between students and potential employers. She earned an MA in mathematics from the University of Timisoara, Romania, in 1991. She also earned an MS (1998) and Ph.D. (2000) in applied mathematics, both from the University of Kansas.

Jody Neathery-Castro

Dr. Neathery-Castro is a comparative politics scholar and former academic coordinator of the First Year Experience (FYE) program at UNO. Her pedagogical research has focused on civic engagement in the first year of college and service learning opportunities in women's studies. Her non-pedagogical research has examined the politics of identity and culture in a globalized economy. A European politics specialist and former exchange student herself, Neathery-Castro carries on the experiential learning tradition by taking her British Politics class to the United Kingdom for 15 days each spring. She earned a BA in political science (1990) from Texas Christian University. She also has an MA (1996) and Ph.D. (1998) from Rice University.

Barbara Pickering

Dr. Pickering is an associate professor in UNO's School of Communication. Her primary focus is rhetoric and social influence, specifically in political communication and gender communication. Courses she teaches range from the undergraduate course in argumentation and debate to the master's level foundation seminar in speech communication. Her 25 years in education also have included coaching competitive debate at the high school and collegiate levels. In 2001 she was coach of the National Communication Association's International Debate team. During its 21-day tour of Japan she lectured on argumentation theory and rhetorical strategies in American politics. She also was a guest critic for Japanese student debates. Pickering initiated DebateWatch 2004 at UNO, which brought more than 425 students and community members to campus to watch and discuss the presidential and vice-presidential campaign debates. Pickering earned a BS (1980) and an MA (1987) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. (1992) from the University of Southern California.

Lisa Sample

Dr. Sample's primary academic focus is criminal and juvenile justice policy. She has taught several different courses in these areas at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In these courses, and through independent studies, Sample often uses her grant research on substance abuse or prisoner reentry as teaching tools to help give students hands-on training and to help them apply what they have learned. She also has mentored numerous graduate students through her involvement on their dissertation and thesis committees and currently is developing new courses in the areas of program evaluation and media and crime. Sample earned an associate's degree in criminal justice (1994) from St. Charles County Community College. She has three degrees in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (BS, 1996, summa cum laude; MA, 1998; Ph.D., 2001).

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