Congratulations to all who were recently honored at the 2017 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Awards Ceremony which was held on September 20th, 2017 in the AgriLife Center on the Texas A&M University campus. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to making the department a great place to call home.
Dr. Zivko Nikolov awarded the Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Faculty Mentoring
Dr. Nikolov has been a member of the Biological and Agricultural Engineering department since 2003. During his tenure, he has mentored numerous faculty and provided a thriving environment to help them succeed to their utmost potential. He has given exceptional support and guidance to developing professional careers.
One mentee spoke highly of Dr. Nikolov’s guidance, “I am very fortunate to have had Dr. Nikolov as my mentor throughout all these years. And, I am very proud that today I am one of his colleagues as a BAEN faculty member. After my tenure and promotion process, he has continued to be my mentor, and as a faculty member, he continues to support, guide, and inspire me to achieve excellence.”
Another faculty member stated, “I am proud to be Dr. Nikolov’s colleague. I have been successful mainly because of his selfless mentoring. He fostered a supportive relationship that encouraged me to create my research and teaching vision. For all my successes, he was behind me cheering and celebrating.”
Ms. Cherish Vance awarded the Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Graduate Teaching
Ms. Vance has been a graduate teaching assistant in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering department since 2014.Her main responsibilities include preparing the laboratory, teaching protocols, and assessing student outcome.
She understands the dynamics of the students, how to deliver the material at the right time, and is innovative in her teaching approach.
Her teaching skill is revered by her students, with one former student stating, “Ms. Vance is the best teaching assistant I have had at Texas A&M. She broke away from the traditional TA lab teaching style of handing out obscure printed directions and supervising in silence. More than merely going through the motions, she wanted the class to develop critical thinking skills essential for an engineer.”
Another former student agreed, stating “Ms. Vance was always knowledgeable on the subject matter and available and helpful for any student. In the lab, she was always organized and well-prepared, as well as articulate and intriguing in teaching the material.
She maintained high standards for the students, which engaged us and challenged us to comprehensively learn and to grow, not only as students, but also as people and future professionals.”
Welcome to our newest faculty members Dr. Janie McClurkin Moore and Dr. Maria King.
Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Smith on her recent promotion.
Article by Stormy Kretzschmar
For details about this news story and others please contact Stormy Kretzschmar, stormyk@tamu.edu.