UA Alumni Association Announces 2002 Teaching Award Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama National Alumni Association has announced the four recipients of its 2002 Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award (OCTA), the University’s highest honor for excellence in teaching.

The 2002 winners are Dr. Joseph Neggers, professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Robert E. Pieroni, professor of internal medicine and family medicine in the College of Community Heath Sciences in UA’s School of Medicine Tuscaloosa Program; Dr. Leon Y. Sadler III, professor of chemical engineering in the College of Engineering; and Dr. Raymond E. White III, professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The announcement and introduction of the winners was made during the fall faculty meeting today (Wednesday, Sept. 18) in Morgan Auditorium.

Established in 1976, the OCTA recognizes dedication to the teaching profession and the positive impact professors have on their students.

Neggers earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in mathematics at Florida State University. He joined UA’s mathematics department in 1967, and in 1979 he became a professor. Before coming to UA, Neggers had appointments at Florida State University, City University of Amsterdam, King’s College of the University of London and The University of Puerto Rico. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Society of America, Arts and Sciences Diversity Committee and others.

He has taught courses in the pure and applied mathematics areas from the freshman to the doctorate level, including courses in modeling and advanced topics for current and future mathematics teachers, as well as the history of mathematics. He also developed several courses, like applied graph theory and discrete mathematics, for the University’s mathematics department.

Neggers co-discovered the well-established Steinitz-rings, d-Algebras and Cyclic-rings in literature as well as Neggers Theorems, Neggers Numbers and the Neggers-Stanley or Poset Conjecture in the Theory of Partially Ordered Sets named in his honor.

In a recommendation letter, a student praised Neggers ability to teach: “It was in his classes that I learned not only to do mathematics, but how to ‘think mathematically.’ He combines mathematics, philosophy, history, poetry and knowledge of world cultures in an elaborate fashion that compels students to learn.”

Pieroni joined the College of Community Health Sciences in 1974 after completing his internal medicine residency at the Harvard-Affiliated Hospitals. He received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College. Before attending medical school at Penn State’s College of Medicine, he conducted research in microbiology that contributed to the development of the acellular pertussis vaccine and a novel test for bacterial endotoxin that bears his name.

Pieroni is a diplomate and fellow in five areas of medicine: internal medicine, family medicine, allergy and immunology, geriatrics and quality assurance. He has more than 300 publications in these disciplines and has been an editorial board member and reviewer of many journals. Pieroni was the first U.S. Visiting Professor at the Kyoto Medical Education Program in Japan and has established an exchange program for medical residents at the University.

Pieroni has been named one of the Best Doctors in America and the Southeast Region and in the U.S. Guide to America’s Top Family Doctors. He received the Golden Stethoscope Award for Clinical Teaching, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, Army Achievement Medal, Clinical Recognition Award and the Alabama Golden Eagle Humanitarian of the Year Award.

A colleague said in a letter that his interests aid his effectiveness as a teacher: “His vast knowledge of medicine coupled with his perpetually inquisitive mind provide the background for a teaching experience that, in my opinion, few students ever encounter.”

After working with Olin Chemicals Corp., the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the Tuscaloosa Research Center, Sadler joined the department of chemical engineering in 1978. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his doctorate degree from UA.

His publications, patents and research have been primarily in the fields of slurry fuel technology, ceramics and refractories, permeability of porous media, mineral processing, rheology, solution mining, coalbed methane and fine particle technology.

He holds three U.S. patents: “Catalysts and Adsorbents Having High Surface and Water Ratios,” “Process for Producing Low-Viscosity Coal-Water and Lignite-Water Mixtures and Compositions Produced Thereby,” “Gas Fluidized-Bed Stirred Media Mill.”

He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer, thermodynamics, process economics and process design.

In a letter of recommendation, a student said Sadler equips his students how to learn and to succeed in a competitive field. “Not only does Dr. Sadler use his great technical skills to educate his students to be better suited for industry, but he also employs his personal skills to illustrate to students how to be better suited for the ‘real world.’ ”

White was one of the first astronomers to incorporate the World Wide Web in teaching astronomy and has been active in enhancing the multimedia teaching capabilities in his department and college. He teaches introductory astronomy to undergraduates and theoretical astrophysics courses to graduate students.

He has an international reputation for his theoretical and observational research on hot, X-Ray-emitting gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. He uses observations of the chemistry and energetics of the hot gas to determine how galaxies form and evolve.

Since joining the UA faculty in 1988, he has been awarded 25 NASA and National Science Foundation grants, many of which included undergraduate, graduate and/or postdoctoral student participation.

White was one of the co-designers of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

White received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s and doctorate from The University of Virginia. He also completed postdoctoral work at Cambridge University and UA.

The UA National Alumni Association, which gives the annual OCTA awards, is made up of more than 30,000 active alumni and friends of the University, organized into more than 100 local chapters nationwide. The association stimulates interest in and supports the betterment of the University, with member contributions accounting for more than $2 million per year in academic scholarships.

For more information or to join, call 205/348-1551 or write the UA National Alumni Association, P.O. Box 861928, Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-0017.