AND THE 2012 WINNERS ARE ...

Dr. Randall Allemang
Mechanical Engineering
University of Cincinnati

Marianna Bettman, J.D.
Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law

Dr. Mary Ellen "Mel" Betz
Nursing
College of Mount St. Joseph

Toni Bloom, M.A.
Division Chair,
Visual Communications
Gateway Community and Technical College
(Covington, Ky.)

Dr. James Bodle
Psychology
College of Mount St. Joseph

Dr. Kim Code
Teacher Education
Northern Kentucky University

Dr. Steven Flynn
Accounting and Business
Thomas More College

Mark Godsey, J.D.
Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law

Dr. Miriam Kannan
Microbiology/Biological Science
Northern Kentucky University

Dr. Jeffrey Keller
Neurosurgery & Anatomy
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Dr. Young Kim
Finance
Northern Kentucky University

Dr. Bill Kincaid
Mathematics
Wilmington College

Dr. Dan McLoughlin
Chemistry
Xavier University

Darrell Miller, J.D.
Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law

Dr. Amy Murdoch
Director of the Reading Science Graduate Education Program,
Graduate Education
College of Mount St. Joseph

Dr. Priscilla O'Clock, CPA
Accounting/Taxation
Xavier University

Dr. John Quinlan
Department of Neurology
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Dr. Amit Raturi
Operations Management
University of Cincinnati

Dr. Sandra Richtermeyer, CPA
Chair of Accountancy and Business Law,
Accounting
Xavier University

Dr. Malcolm Robinson
Economics
Thomas More College

Dr. John "Jack" Rudnick
Business Administration/Health Care Management
Thomas More College

Dr. Manoj Sharma
Health Promotion and Education
University of Cincinnati

Dr. Majoj Sharma
Health Promotion and Education
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Tobi Shartzer, J.D.
Legal Studies
Stayer University (Florence, Ky.)

Valerie Simmons, M.A.
General Education
Beckfield College (Cincinnati)

Sharon Sims, M.A.
Sports Management
Wilmington College

David Singleton, J.D.
Law
NKU Chase College of Law

Dr. Sylvia Stevens
Associate VP for External Affairs,
Humanities/Business
Wilmington College

Brandy Taylor, M.S.
Criminal Justice
Beckfield College (Florence, Ky.)

Dr. Christopher Wilkey
English
Northern Kentucky University

WINNER PROFILES

"In the minds of our students, Professor Allemang is our most beloved faculty member."

So begins the nomination for University of Cincinnati's Dr. Randall Allemang. That's high praise, especially for someone who "never really planned on an academic career."

Allemang, professor of Mechanical Engineering, started as an instructor for UC in 1975 while he was working on his doctorate. Thoughts of moving to a corporation were replaced by success in the classroom.

"I felt I could make a difference in the students' lives and in the development of the education and research areas of the ME program at UC," Allemang says of his career decision to teach. "I have been lucky enough to feel like I have been able to do both over the last 35-plus years."

Mentoring graduate students has been among the highlights of his career, he says, particularly when two of his former students earned PECASE awards (Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers).

— CINDY KRANZ

Mary Ellen "Mel" Betz is a professor whose office hours are not tied to her office at the College of Mount St. Joseph. Instead, her students can find her in the classrooms and conference rooms of the hospitals where they work, because Betz brings the coursework to them.

Betz, assistant professor of nursing, teaches the RN to BSN program, which partnering hospitals pay for to advance their registered nurses' degrees from diploma or associate's degrees to baccalaureate degrees, which are preferred by employers.

The curriculum, which includes classroom, clinical and community assignments, is designed to deepen nurses' knowledge from cultural understanding to professionalism and leadership, with the ultimate aim of improving patients' quality of care.

"We focus a lot on their perspective of the health needs of the community and the world," Betz says.

Her students' range of nursing experience, from perhaps five to 30 years, adds to the intrigue of teaching for Betz.

"They're all individuals, and you need to have individual approaches as well as collective ones," she says.

What she's doing seems to be working.

"A lot of these hospitals have renewed [their contracts with the school for this program] three and four times," says Sue Johnson, dean of Health and Sciences at the College of Mount St. Joseph.

 

Young S. Kim

Northern Kentucky University

 

In his nomination of Dr. Young Kim for Outstanding Educator, his colleague recounted one achievement after another.

Kim, associate professor of finance at Northern Kentucky University's Haile/US Bank College of Business, "is heavily engaged as secretary general of the Korean American Finance Association international conference," the nomination reads. This affiliation has attracted international recognition to the business college.

Kim is an accomplished researcher. He was named the Haile Faculty Fellow for Excellence in Research and earned the Best Paper in Capital Markets award at the 13th annual Global Finance Conference in 2006.

"One measure of his impact on the discipline of finance is that his articles have been downloaded over 4,600 times. Kim is also excellent in the classroom and receives strong teacher ratings each semester."

Dr. Kim says he strives to be a positive influence on his students.

"As an educator in an institution of higher learning, my commitment to the individual needs of students is at the heart of my teaching mission," Kim wrote from his sabbatical in Korea.

"It is important for motivating students to excel by displaying great enthusiasm for the subject matter.

"To achieve the effective teaching, I devote considerable time and energy to increasing students' motivation to learn."

— C.K.

Xavier University professor of accountancy Dr. Priscilla O'Clock made such an impression on her students, that her nominator was a graduate who returns to volunteer in the free tax preparation service O'Clock brought to Xavier to serve the area's low-income and elderly population.

"This experience far surpasses any knowledge one can gain from a textbook," the nominator wrote of VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. "The VITA experience is very enriching to go through as a student and even still as an alumna coming back to review prepared returns."

The program that started out as volunteer work for O'Clock has evolved into a service learning class for her students. In 18 years at the university, the program has grown from preparing about 30 returns to 300 per tax season, primarily in Norwood.

"It's a total win-win situation," O'Clock says. "The taxpayers love talking to the students and are very appreciative [of the help], and the students learn so much" from the taxpayers and the tax preparation.

— C.K.

Sharon Sims found her profession, and then her life's passion, by invitation.

While in school, an instructor suggested she had gifts for teaching, which set her on the path to becoming a professor of health and physical education at Wilmington College.

"I had to sign a contract that read teacher/coach," Sims says of her path to coaching volleyball, swimming and basketball. But when she was asked to coach golf, she turned it down because she didn't know anything about the sport. Then a flier turned up on her desk to attend an LPGA seminar for golf coaches and teachers. Attending that unlocked her potential as a teacher and coach.

"Until I arrived at golf, there was another level of coaching that I didn't understand," Sims says.

Now, in addition to her teaching career at Wilmington, Sims is an LPGA Class A teaching and club golf professional. She teaches children at her own golf range and was named to the Top 50 Honorable Mention Golf Teachers for US Kids Golf in the U.S.

This spring she was invited to present her own series of golf skill games to the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Boston.

— C.K.

Brandy Taylor always thought she would become a police officer, like her dad.

She redirected her plans for a couple of reasons.

"I had twins right off the bat," Taylor says.

Fortunately, she found that she enjoyed teaching criminal justice as much as she enjoyed taking the classes and doing the homework. She now teaches a full load of courses and advises students in her role as Student Development Coordinator at Beckfield College.

"I like learning about human nature• why people do what they do and the fact that different factors of their lives really can determine what kind of adults they'll become," such as their childhoods, environment and schooling, Taylor says.

"It's probably why I'm so passionate about education. Education can make a world of difference," in a person's life, she says.

Her love of education and this subject matter in particular, helps set the tone for incoming students, says Dr. Rachel McArthur, dean of Beckfield College's Criminal Justice department.

As her nomination read: "Ms. Taylor truly embodies the criminal justice motto of Leadership, Integrity and Discipline here at Beckfield College."

"Brandy does an amazing job," McArthur says. "She does a lot for the students — more than I think they realize."

— C.K.