• Baylor professors of the year represent education, music and business

    Baylor professors of the year

    Each year, Baylor honors three professors with major awards based on slightly varying criteria.

    The senior class annually votes to determine the Collins Outstanding Professor Award. For the eighth time in the last 11 years, the Collins Award winner is also a Baylor graduate; this year’s recipient is Dr. Paul La Bounty, PhD ’07 (above left), an associate professor of human anatomy, physiology and nutrition in the School of Education. La Bounty joined the Baylor faculty in 2007 following the retirement of another longtime Baylor favorite, Dr. Dick Couey, BA ’63.

    Dr. Joe McKinney (above center), a professor of economics in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business since 1976, is the 2014 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year. The award honors a professor who “makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor,” based on teaching, research and service. Illustrating the far reach of his work at Baylor, endorsements for McKinney came in from as far as the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

    Dr. Alfredo Colman (above right), associate professor of musicology and ethnomusicology in the School of Music, was named the 2014 Baylor Centennial Professor. Funded by the Centennial Class of 1945, each year the award provides financial support to aide one professor with a specific project. Colman, a specialist in Latin American music, plans to use the award to study the works of prolific composer Florentin Gimenez in Paraguay.

    Nine other Baylor professors received Outstanding Professor recognition during Spring Commencement ceremonies: for teaching, Larry Bates (law), Dr. David Bridge (political science), Dr. Lynn Tatum, BA ’76 (BIC), and Dr. Eric Wilson (music-band); for scholarship, Dr. Isabelle Demers (music-organ), Dr. Ryan King (biology) and Dr. Dennis Tucker (Truett Seminary); and for contributions to the academic community, Dr. James Ellor (social work) and Michael Rogers (law).

    Sic ’em, Baylor professors!