Faculty Teaching Awards
Highlighting award-winning teaching
Recognizing Faculty
The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi is home to some of the finest educators in the nation. CLA faculty are recognized at the campus, state, regional, and national levels for their teaching excellence.
Educating undergraduate and graduate students and mentoring them is the job of the nearly 700 faculty members who teach in the College of Liberal Arts. These faculty members bring their important intellectual skills and cutting-edge discoveries to the classroom and lab, providing students with the utmost in educational experiences.
Each year, the College of Liberal Arts recognizes several educators with prestigious teaching awards. Recipients of these awards are nominated by their students and peers. Another award is recognized jointly with the Mississippi Humanities Council.
2025 UM Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year
"I'm extremely grateful to receive this, and I owe it all to my department. I have an extremely supportive department who has championed and celebrated every one of my research goals and achievements, and especially my chair, Molly Pasco-Pranger who has worked tirelessly to make my research path possible."
Jackie Dibiasie-Sammons
Associate Professor of Classics and Senior Fellow, North Residential College
2025 Cora Lee Graham Award for Outstanding Teaching of First-Year Students
Jonathan Brian Fenno
Associate Professor of Classics
2025 Howell Family Outstanding Teacher of the Year
Matthew B Reysen
Associate Professor of Psychology
CLA Teaching Awards
In 1984, Cora Lee Graham of Union City, Tennessee, established an endowment “to help retain better professors who teach the freshman classes” in the College of Liberal Arts. Criteria for this annual award include, but are not limited to, excellence of class instruction, intellectual stimulation of students, and concern for students’ welfare. Recipients are recognized during the College’s commencement ceremony, have their name added to an award plaque in the Dean’s office, and receive $1,000. Eligibility for these awards is open to all full-time faculty in the College of Liberal Arts who are actively involved in teaching 100- or 200-level courses or other courses intended primarily for freshmen. As of 2023, two awards are given: one for tenured/tenure-track and the other for Instructional faculty. Temporary and visiting faculty, as well as previous recipients, are not eligible.
Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty Award
Jon F. Parcher, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1987
Lee N. Bolen, Physics and Astronomy, 1988
Kwang-Sik Yun, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1989
Daniel E. Williams, English, 1990
Jeffrey R. Watt, History, 1991
Gerard Buskes, Mathematics, 1992
William D. Scott, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1993
Kees Gispen, History, 1994
Paul K. Lago, Biology, 1995
Hans-Jurgen Gaycken, Modern Languages, 1996
Walter E. Cleland, Jr., Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1997
Michael P. Lynch, Philosophy & Religion, 1998
L. Marvin Overby, Political Science, 1999
Holly Reynolds, Political Science, 2000
Kathryn McKee, English & Southern Studies, 2001
Gary R. Gaston, Biology, 2002
Frederick E. Laurenzo, History, 2003
Timothy Nordstrom, Political Science, 2004
Aileen Ajootian, Classics, 2005
Joe Turner Cantú, Theatre Arts, 2006
Jason Ritchie, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2007
Tamar Goulet, Biology, 2008
Greg Tschumper, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2009
Lou Haney, Art, 2010
Eric Thomas Weber, Public Policy Leadership, 2011
Jeff Jackson, Sociology & Anthropology, 2012
Sarah Moses, Philosophy & Religion, 2013
Melvin Arrington, Modern Languages, 2014
Hilary Becker, Classics, 2015
Joshua Brinlee, Art & Art History, 2016
Steven Davis, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2017
Molly Pasco-Pranger, Classics, 2018
Colin Jackson, Biology, 2019
Catarina Passidomo, Sociology & Anthropology, Southern Studies, 2020
Neil Manson, Philosophy, 2021
Jacqueline Frost DiBiasie-Sammons, Classics, 2022
Rebecca Katherine Marchiel, History, 2023
James Bos, Philosophy & Religion, 2024
Jonathan Fenno, Classics, 2025
Instructional Faculty Award
Rebecca Symula, Biology, 2023
Bryan McAdams, Theatre & Film, 2024
Lydia Lytal, Biology, 2025
In 1985, the College of Liberal Arts began recognizing the Liberal Arts Outstanding Teacher of the Year. Criteria for the annual award include, but are not limited to, excellence of class instruction, intellectual stimulation of students, and concern for students’ welfare. Recipients are recognized during the College of Liberal Arts commencement ceremony, have their name added to an award plaque in the Dean’s office, and receive $1,000. All full-time faculty, in the College of Liberal Arts, who are actively teaching courses at any level, are eligible. Temporary and visiting faculty, as well as previous recipients, are not eligible.
From 1985 until 2023, eligibility for the Howell Family Outstanding Teacher of the Year was limited to faculty of professorial rank (assistant professor through full professor) of the College of Liberal Arts. The list below reflects the honorees awarded under the past criteria.
Sheila L. Skemp, History, 1985
Jerrold J. Heindel, Biology, 1986
James J. Cooke, History, 1987
William F. Lawhead, Philosophy & Religion, 1988
Mary Jeanne Kallman, Psychology, 1989
Eldon L. Miller, Mathematics, 1990
Kenneth O. McGraw, Psychology, 1991
Donald Dyer, Modern Languages & Linguistics, 1992
John S. Hull, Biology, 1993
Talmadge James Reid, Mathematics, 1994
Colby H. Kullman, English, 1995
Lee N. Bolen, Physics, 1996
Daniell L. Mattern, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1998
Rebecca L. Holberton, Biology, 1999
Edmund D. Keiser, Biology 2000
Douglass Sullivan-González, History, 2001
Samir A. Husni, Journalism, 2002
Ethel A. Young-Minor, English, 2003
Benjamin F. Fisher, English, 2004
John R. Neff, History, 2005
Ann Fisher-Wirth, English, 2006
Sheri Rieth, Art, 2007
Daniel O’Sullivan, Modern Languages, 2008
Ross Haenfler, Sociology & Anthropology, 2009
Jason Klodt, Modern Languages, 2010
Beth Ann Fennelly, English, 2011
Susan Pedigo, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2012
Felice Coles, Modern Languages, 2013
Jay Watson, English, 2014
Kathryn McKee, English, Southern Studies, 2015
Gerard Buskes, Mathematics, 2016
Matt Long, Art & Art History, 2017
Nidhi Vij Mali, Public Policy Leadership, 2018
Heather J. Allen, Modern Languages, 2019
Vivian Ibrahim, History, International Studies, 2020
Jason Solinger, English, 2021
Timothy Paul Yenter, Philosophy & Religion, 2022
Maria Jose Garcia Otero, Modern Languages, 2023
Marcos Mendoza, Sociology and Anthropology, 2024
Matthew Reysen, Psychology, 2025
The College of Liberal Arts and the Mississippi Humanities Council cosponsor the Humanities Teacher of the Year Award, recognizing outstanding contributions of humanities faculty at the University of Mississippi with a free public lecture in Oxford and at the Mississippi Humanities Council annual awards ceremony in Jackson in the spring.
Colby H. Kullman, English, 1995
Charles R. Wilson, History and Southern Studies, 1997
Winthrop Jordan, History and African American Studies, 1998
Mary E. Stuckey, Political Science, 1999
Benjamin Fisher, English, 2000
Kathryn McKee, English and Southern Studies, 2001
William Lawhead, Philosophy and Religion, 2002
Ethel Young Scurlock, English and African American Studies, 2003
Donald Dyer, Modern Languages, 2004
Aileen Ajootian, Classics, 2005
Ann Fisher-Wirth, English, 2006
Jeffrey Watt, History, 2007
Daniel O’Sullivan, Modern Languages, 2008
John Neff, History, 2009
Jason Klodt, Modern Languages, 2010
Beth Ann Fennelly, English, 2011
Jeffrey T. Jackson, Sociology, 2012
Felice Coles, Modern Languages, 2013
Jay Watson, English, 2014
Hilary Becker, Classics, 2015
John R. Gutiérrez, Modern Languages and International Studies, 2016
Marc Lerner, History, 2017
Brad Cook, Classics, 2018-2019
Patrick Alexander, English and African American Studies, 2019-2020
Brian Foster, Sociology and Southern Studies, 2021
Allen Clark, Modern Languages, 2022
Beth Spencer, English, 2023
Tom Franklin, English, 2024
Jackie DiBiasie-Sammons, Classics, 2025
2025 St. Amand Outstanding Teaching Award
Karen Fatula Forgette
Senior Lecturer in Composition and Rhetoric & Assistant Chair
2025 Elsie Hood Outstanding Teacher Award
Allen Stanley Clark
Associate Professor of Modern Languages