UA Honors Teaching Award Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama National Alumni Association has announced the 2009 recipients of the University’s highest honor for excellence in teaching – the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Awards.

This year’s four recipients are: Carol Andrews, professor in the School of Law, Dr. William H. Rabel, professor in the College of Commerce and Business Administration, Craig Wedderspoon, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Vivian H. Wright, associate professor in the College of Education.

The 2009 OCTA recipients were recognized today by UA President Robert E. Witt at the fall faculty/staff meeting in the Bryant Conference Center. A presentation of awards is also held at NorthRiver Yacht Club with the National Alumni Association.

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

The National Alumni Association, which gives the annual OCTA awards, is made up of some 30,000 active alumni and friends of the University organized into more than 110 local chapters nationwide.  The association stimulates interest in and supports the betterment of the University and awards $2.5 million per year in scholarships to 2,000 students.

The 2009 OCTA winners are:

 

Carol Andrews joined the UA law faculty in 1995.  She is a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, where she taught civil procedure and legal ethics from 1993-1995.

Prior to her move to teaching, Andrews was a partner and civil litigator at the national litigation firm of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago.  In almost 10 years of practice, she appeared in state and federal courts across the country, representing clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to private individuals.

Andrews is the primary teacher of the law school’s summer academic excellence program.  In this program, she works closely with a select group of incoming first-year law students to teach both the substance of the law and general legal analysis and writing skills.  During the regular school term, Andrews works both inside and outside the classroom to help law students adapt to the process of learning law.

Andrews regularly speaks on issues of legal ethics, professionalism and civil practice at bar association meetings.  In 2004, she was a presenter on a professionalism panel in which Ken Starr was the featured speaker.  In a series of presentations last year, she spoke on good practices in civil litigation to lawyers throughout the state.

 

Dr. William H. Rabel holds the John and Mary Louise Loftis Bickley Endowed Teaching Chair in Insurance and Financial Services and has served on the UA business faculty for three years.  Rabel received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M, where he was a Munnerlyn Scholar, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Huebner fellow.

After his first year of teaching at UA, students in the Alabama Finance Association selected him for the Outstanding Faculty Award: 2006-2007.  In his second year at UA, he received the John S. Bickley C&BA Creativity and Innovation Award.

Rabel has a broad background in business and education. He served for 27 years at the Life Office Management Association, where as senior vice president for education and training he oversaw programs for those in management and operations of financial services companies. Under his leadership, LOMA’s FLMI program became the world’s largest university-level professional education program in financial services and is used in some 60 countries and offered in seven languages.

Rabel previously served as dean of The American College’s Huebner School of CLU Studies.  He has also served on the faculty of Syracuse University’s College of Business and was an economic affairs officer for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.  His UNCTAD report on professional education has provided a blueprint for institutions in the Third World.

 

Craig Wedderspoon joined the UA faculty in 1999 after receiving his master of fine arts degree in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University.  He first joined the department of art and art history at UA as a visiting professor and then one year later as tenure-track faculty.  He was promoted to associate professor in 2006.

Wedderspoon is an active artist and his work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally.  His work can be found in several prominent outdoor sculpture collections, including those of Virginia Commonwealth University and the city of Upper Arlington.  His sculpture can also be found in the center of UA’s historic Woods Quad.  Recently, one of his large sculptures was installed outside the headquarters of Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville.

During his time at UA, Wedderspoon has been actively engaged in teaching, research and service. Under his direction, undergraduate and graduate students studying sculpture develop the necessary technical and critical thinking skills to allow them to be well prepared to enter top-tier graduate programs in art or begin careers as productive artists and educators.

He provides students opportunities outside the classroom that encourage creative problem solving, make a lasting contribution to the community at large, and give students real-world experiences. He has inspired his students to become involved in designing the sculpture garden for the Workers Memorial Commons for the city of Tuscaloosa and outdoor sculpture for the UA Student Recreation Center and the Black Warrior RiverWalk.

 

Dr. Vivian H. Wright joined the College of Education in 2001 as an assistant professor of instructional technology in the department of curriculum and instruction.  She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2007. She received her bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University and her doctoral degree at UA.

Wright has contributed to the revision, development, implementation and evaluation of undergraduate and graduate instructional technology courses in her college. As an instructional technology educator, innovation is at the heart of everything Wright does.  She helped initiate and develop projects including Electronic Portfolios for the Preservice Teacher, Technology on Wheels and the ongoing Master Technology Teacher partnership.

In her teaching, Wright strives to ensure that students make connections from knowledge to practice.  Students in her classes are challenged to organize and present research at the Technology Educational Research Conference on campus.  Students “shadow a pro” to observe real-world applications of theory to practice and create new teaching and learning opportunities through innovative technologies such as geocaching, digital shared media, virtual environments, mash-ups and other emerging technologies.

Wright’s research has focused on asynchronous learning, emerging technologies, and the integration of technology in the disciplines.  She is co-editor of the Journal of Interactive Online Learning and has co-authored one edited book and authored or co-authored more than 50 papers and book chapters.