Lamar University’s Office of the Provost recently announced the award of Distinguished Faculty Teaching Fellowships and Distinguished Faculty Research/Creative Activity Fellowships to five faculty members beginning in Fall 2018.

Awards as Distinguished Faculty Teaching Fellows are given to Professor Selahattin Sayil in electrical engineering, and Associate Professor Mamta Singh in teacher education.

Receiving awards as Distinguished Faculty Research/Creative Activity Fellows are Professor Xuejun Fan in mechanical engineering, Professor Mohammad Hamza in counseling and special populations, and Assistant Professor Sherry Freyermuth in art.

The prestigious Faculty Teaching Fellowship Program complements the Research/Creative Activity Fellowship Program. The teaching fellowships identify, recognize, reward, and support faculty who have demonstrated outstanding performance in instruction and extraordinary creativity in curriculum development relative to others of similar rank and time in service. Research/creative activity fellowships support faculty who have distinguished themselves over their research/creative activity careers relative to others of similar rank and time in service.

Both programs recognize academic career accomplishments with special attention on exceptional performances in the past three years. 

The Fellowships are awarded for three years across the broad disciplinary divisions of the university. One Fellowship is awarded to faculty in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical Science (STEM) fields; one in the Professional (Business, Nursing, Education, Deaf Education/Speech and Hearing Sciences) disciplines; and one in the Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Creative, Fine, and Performing Arts.

Selected faculty hold the respective title of Distinguished Faculty Teaching Fellow or Distinguished Faculty Research/Creative Activity Fellow. Each receives a $10,000 annual stipend, a one-time instructional enhancement/innovation or research/creative activity budget of $5,000, and a $3,000 base salary increase at the completion of the fellowship term.