2014-15 Faculty Recognition

The Collins Outstanding Professor
Mark Devanand Jonklass

The Collins Outstanding Professor program was funded in 1994 by the Carr P. Collins Foundation to honor outstanding teachers at Baylor University. Recipients are chosen annually by a senior class vote, receive a cash award and deliver an open lecture on the Baylor campus.

Dr. Mark Devanand (Devan) Jonklaas, senior lecturer in Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the 2014-2015 recipient. He presented the annual Collins lecture titled “Beautiful Biochemistry: An Aesthetic and Informative Look at Some of the Wonders of Biochemistry and Reflections from My Teaching Journey through this Amazing Subject” on April 21. He thanked many people for their help in his career journey, especially professors from his high school chemistry classes in his homeland of India, who set him on the road to teaching in a Christian university.

Dr. Jonklaas holds the doctor of philosophy degree in bio-organic chemistry from Baylor University. His B.A. in chemistry, with minors in physics and math, is from Taylor University. He taught at Baylor while completing his doctoral degree and became a full time lecturer in 2004. He teaches general biochemistry and nutritional biochemistry and has also taught modern and advanced biochemistry laboratories; often using technology to enhance the learning experience for his students. He directs Honors Reading courses for honors students and is an advisor for B.S. biochemistry majors.

He has several publications, abstracts and presentations to his credit and has been recognized with Phi Kappa Chi’s “Light Your World” acknowledgement, the Mortar Board Circle of Achievement and Phi Beta Kappa recognition. Baylor’s Office of Academic Integrity recognized him as one of six faculty for “promoting a culture of academic integrity.”

The Cornelia Marschall Smith Award is given to faculty nominated on the basis of being “a superlative contributor to the learning environment at Baylor, including teaching which is judged to be of the highest order of intellectual acumen and pedagogical effectiveness, research which is recognized as outstanding by the national and/or international as well as local community of scholars and service, which is regarded as exemplary in building the character of intellectual community at Baylor.”

David Lyle Jeffrey, PhD, distinguished professor of literature and humanities in Baylor’s Honors College, has been honored as the 12th Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year.

Since 2000, Dr. Jeffrey has been a distinguished professor of literature and humanities at Baylor. His teachings concentrate on medieval literature, the Bible as literature, medieval exegesis, biblical hermeneutics and literary theory, biblical tradition in the arts, art and biblical theology, literature and philosophy and aesthetics.

Prior to his time at Baylor University, Dr. Jeffrey acted as guest professor at Peking University (Beijing) and Honorary Professor at the University of International Business and Economics (Beijing). He has been honored as the 1995 Professor of the Year in Arts and Humanities at the University of Ottawa, elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1996, chosen for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 Conference on Christianity and Literature and invited to present the 2004 Andrew Laing Lecture at St Andrews University in Scotland.

Baylor Centennial Professors
Jay Pulliam and Kevin Gutzwiller

Funded by the Centennial Class of 1945, the Baylor Centennial Professor Award annually provides financial support to aid one professor with a specific project. For the first time, two Centennial Professors were honored this spring.

Jay Pulliam, PhD, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Geophysics, will join a delegation to Cuba that will work with local seismologists to improve understanding of earthquake hazards in the region, investigations of tectonic processes and theoretical and computational seismology.

Kevin Gutzwiller, PhD, professor of biology, will study the decline of White Pine bark in the northern Rocky Mountains and its effects on animals such as the grizzly bear that depend on the White Pine for food.

Outstanding Professors for 2014-2015
Teaching

Rita E. Abercrombie
Senior Lecturer, Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
College of Arts and Sciences

Michael L. Alexander
Associate Professor in Music Education
School of Music

Kevin D. Dougherty
Associate Professor of Sociology
College of Arts and Sciences

Trent G. Dougherty
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
College of Arts and Sciences

David Lyle Jeffrey
Distinguished Professor, Literature and Humanities
Honors College

Jana K. Millar
Senior Lecturer, Academic Studies
School of Music

Outstanding Professors for 2014-2015
Scholarship

C. Kevin Chambliss
Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences

Kent T. Eshelman
Assistant Professor, Instrumental Music
School of Music

James A. Roberts
Professor, Management
Hankamer School of Business

Jason A. Whitlark
Associate Professor, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core
Honors College

Outstanding Professors for 2014-2015
Contributions to the Academic Community

Georgia Green
Professor and Associate Dean
School of Music