Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Seven Stephen F. Austin State University faculty members were recognized for their teaching abilities during the annual Teaching Excellence Convocation Wednesday, April 13, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Regents' Suite A on the SFA campus.
The Teaching Excellence Awards were established in 1994 to honor outstanding classroom teachers at SFA. Each of the university's six colleges selects a faculty member to receive the annual award based on knowledge of subject matter, quality of lectures and assignments, enthusiasm for teaching, interest in and availability to students, commitment to continuous improvement, and contribution to the quality of teaching at SFA by assisting and encouraging other faculty members. The 2016 recipients are as follows:
Nelson Rusche College of Business
Dr. Marcus Cox serves as an assistant professor of management in the Department of Management, Marketing and International Business in the Nelson Rusche College of Business. Cox taught as a lecturer at SFA from 1997-99 and from 2002-09 prior to returning as a tenure-track faculty member in fall 2013. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from SFA, his Certificate of Advanced Management from Babson College and his doctoral degree from the University of North Texas.
Cox teaches human resource management, compensation and benefits, and strategic management. His research interests include corporate environmental performance and industry regulation, organizational misconduct, executive compensation in the non-profit sector and training effectiveness. He has most recently been published in the Journal of Business Strategies and the Journal of Small Business Strategy, and he was awarded the Best Paper award by the Academy of Management.
James I. Perkins College of Education
After serving 18 years in public education as a teacher and administrator, Dr. Stacy Hendricks joined SFA's James I. Perkins College of Education in 2010 as project director of the Consortium for Excellence in Rural Teacher Preparation for English Language Learners. In 2011, she joined the Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership as an assistant professor, where she teaches aspiring administrators in the principal preparation program. She also is the program coordinator of SFA's master's degree in educational leadership.
Hendricks received her master's degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and holds a doctoral degree in educational administration from Texas A&M University-Commerce. Her research interests include online curriculum and pedagogical approaches, educational leadership, and evaluating and improving principal preparation programs. Her most recent research includes the book, "Preparing educators for online learning: A careful look at the components and how to assess their value."
College of Fine Arts
Dr. Nathan Nabb, professor of saxophone in the School of Music, joined the SFA faculty in 2010. He received his Bachelor of Music Performance at the University of Illinois, and he received his Master of Music and doctoral degree from Northwestern University.
Nabb is an international soloist and chamber musician, and he regularly performs with the St. Louis and Houston Symphonies. His students have won numerous local and national competitions, have been admitted into prestigious graduate programs nationwide, and are accomplished teachers in primary and secondary schools.
Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture
Dr. Sheryll Jerez, associate professor of environmental science, joined SFA's Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture faculty in November 2007. She received her bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering from the University of the Philippines, a Master of Science in agricultural engineering from Kansas State University and doctoral degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jerez teaches introduction to environmental science, environmental measurements, environmental assessment and management, and air-quality assessment.
Jerez mentors students involved in undergraduate research and was the recipient of the 2014 Faculty Mentor of the Year award. She serves as a research adviser to graduate students in environmental science who are specializing in either land and water resources or occupational and environmental health. Her research interests include air-quality assessment, modeling and control. Jerez investigates the effectiveness of new technologies and best-management practices to help improve air quality. She is currently working on the assessment of the impact on air quality of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas production in Texas.
College of Liberal and Applied Arts
Dr. Steven Estrada serves as the undergraduate program coordinator in SFA's Department of Psychology and has been an assistant professor since fall 2010. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Arlington and his master's and doctoral degrees from Cornell University. Estrada has published in the fields of memory development, adolescent decision-making and medical decision-making. His work applies cutting-edge physiological techniques in understanding the neuronal mechanisms behind the dynamics of attention and emotion.
His research laboratory offers many undergraduates the opportunity to gain hands-on learning in research on psychology. At the undergraduate level, Estrada teaches introductory statistics, general psychology and developmental psychology, often applying innovative teaching techniques in his courses. At the graduate level, Estrada enjoys teaching advanced statistics, a course on decision-making and has served as chair on several masters' theses committees.
College of Sciences and Mathematics
Mindy Shaw Faulkner joined SFA's Department of Geology in 2005 as an adjunct faculty member after receiving her bachelor's degree in environmental geology in 2002. She completed her Master of Science in geology in 2006 from SFA. In 2010, she assumed the laboratory coordinator position and now supervises the teaching and content of the department's undergraduate laboratories. In May 2016, Faulkner will graduate with a doctoral degree in forestry from SFA.
She currently teaches courses in geochemistry, structural geology and various field courses, including the Department of Geology's summer field camp. Her research interests are natural resource management, karst systems, geochemistry, field geology, and the influence of subsurface structures on fluid migration and vegetation patterns.
Adjunct Teaching
Herbert Midgley II has been a lecturer of music in SFA's School of Music since 1999. He studied music composition, education and filmmaking and received his bachelor's degree, Master of Music, Master of Education and Master of Fine Arts from SFA. Midgley is an active film composer and is involved with electronic avant-garde music. Before joining the SFA faculty, Midgley taught all levels of music in public schools.