2017 SEC Faculty Achievement Award Recipients Announced

March 29, 2017

The SEC Faculty Achievement Awards honor one individual from each SEC university who has excelled in teaching, research and scholarship.

By: Bryant Welbourne
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

Fourteen SEC faculty members have been named winners of the 2017 SEC Faculty Achievement Awards, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced Wednesday. Now in their sixth year, these awards honor one individual from each SEC university who has excelled in teaching, research and scholarship.

“Through the SEC Faculty Achievement Awards we have a unique opportunity each year to recognize and encourage the work of outstanding faculty members on our campuses,” said Sankey. “These 14 highly accomplished scholars represent more than 14,000 full-time, tenured professors in our Conference, and we are delighted to honor them for decades of service to our students.”

Each SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner will receive a $5,000 honorarium from the SEC and will become his or her university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year, to be named in April, receives an additional $15,000 honorarium.

To be eligible for the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, the professor must be a teacher or scholar at an SEC university; have achieved the rank of full professor; have a record of extraordinary teaching; and have a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.

“The SEC is comprised of 14 of the finest universities in the country, and our faculty members are some of the most nationally and internationally decorated individuals in academia,” said Dr. Mark E. Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and President of the Southeastern Conference. “It is a privilege to be able to recognize their accomplishments, and I offer each of them my sincere congratulations.”

The SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are both selected by the SEC Provosts, and they are a part of the SECU academic initiative. SECU is the mechanism through which the SEC promotes the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of its students, faculty and administrators.

Below is a list of the 2017 SEC Faculty Achievement Award recipients. Click here to read bios of the award winners.

Name	University	Title
Dr. Arunava Gupta	University of Alabama	Distinguished University Research Professor of Chemistry
Brian Gallini	University of Arkansas	Professor of Law
Dr. James Barth	Auburn University	Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance
Dr. George Christou	University of Florida	Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Roberto Docampo	University of Georgia	Distinguished Research Professor of Cellular Biology
Dr. T. John Balk	University of Kentucky	William T. Bryan Professor of Materials Engineering
Dr. Susanne Brenner	Louisiana State University	Nicholson Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Dale Flesher	University of Mississippi	Professor of Accountancy
Dr. Janice Chambers	Mississippi State University	Giles Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. James Birchler	University of Missouri	Curators' Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences
Dr. David Shields	University of South Carolina	Carolina Distinguished Professor of English
Dr. Suzanne Lenhart	University of Tennessee	Chancellors' Professor of Mathematics
Dr. David Bergbreiter	Texas A&M University	Regents Professor of Chemistry
Suzanna Sherry	Vanderbilt University	Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law