For the third year, students in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences (EPPS) rewarded faculty with nominations for best professors of the year at an awards ceremony last month.

“It’s a wonderful thing to see students respond to this and give such positive feedback on the faculty,” said Dr. Denis Dean, dean of EPPS. “So many awards come from the top down, but here the students have the final say about the most successful and inspirational teachers.”

Crystal apples went to the winners of the EPPS teaching awards, which were given for the third year.

Students nominated professors from each of the seven degree areas within EPPS for Outstanding Teaching Comet Awards, and a winner was selected in each. The winners received crystal apples engraved with their names.

Carter Plotkin, a senior political science student, said he has had numerous classes with Dr. Brian Bearry, who was the honored winner in the political science program.

“Dr. Bearry has a consistent lecture style … and he has set the bar for informative, instructive and easy-to-digest lecturing,” Plotkin said. “Since [he] is so gifted in imparting information and truly teaching, he is a superlative candidate for the Comet Award for Outstanding Teaching.”

Conedra Hayes, a senior sociology student, praised the teaching style of Dr. Carol Cirulli Lanham.

“She allows you to examine different social factors with respect to personal preferences,” Hayes said. “She accepts everyone’s cultural differences.”

Dr. Lanham, who won the award in sociology, has two perspectives on her achievement as a student and as a teacher. She started at UT Dallas as a doctoral candidate in 2005 and stayed on as a senior lecturer after she graduated.

“I love interacting with students and helping them in any way I can,” she said. “Because I teach subjects I am interested in, class time is enjoyable for me and the students.”

She added that her goal is to offer encouragement and guidance to her students both inside and out of the classroom.

“I want my students not only to get a quality education, but a job that they enjoy as much as I enjoy mine,” Lanham said.

The complete list of nominees and winners was as follows:

Winning professors included: (from left) Dan Arce, economics; Lloyd Dumas, public policy and political economy; Donald Arbuckle, public affairs and Bryan Chastain, GIS.

The other honorees were: (from left)  Brian Bearry, political science, Carol Cirulli Lanham, sociology, J.C. Barnes, criminology and Yongwan Chun, GIS.

Geospatial Information Science
Winners: Yongwan Chun and Bryan Chastain
Other nominees: Denis Dean, Fang Qiu and Irina Vakulenko

Economics
Winner: Dan Arce
Other nominees:  Rodney Andrews, Nathan Berg, Luba Ketsler, Stephen Kiser, James Murdoch, Jason Parker and Todd Sandler

Sociology
Winner: Carol Cirulli Lanham
Other nominees: John Malek-Ahmadi, Bobby Alexander, Richard Scotch and Sheryl Skaggs

Public Affairs
Winner: Donald Arbuckle
Other nominees: Paul Battaglio, Doug Goodman, Lowell Doug Kiel and Meghna Sabharwal

Public Policy and Political Economy
Winner: Lloyd Dumas
Other nominees: Alero Akporiaye, Simon Fass and Don Hicks

Political Science
Winner: Brian Bearry
Other nominees: Laura Bell, Linda Keith, Anthony Champagne, Karl Ho, Banks Miller, Clint Peinhardt and Lu-Chung (Dennis) Weng

Criminology
Winner: J.C. Barnes
Other nominees: Denise Paquette Boots, Robert Morris and Nicole Leeper Piquero