University Communications and Marketing
March 3, 2017
Dr. Tasneem Khaleel, center, was awarded the prestigious Pippenger Award during the MSUB Faculty Excellence event, held Thursday, March 2. She is shown with Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Robert Hoar, left, and Interim Chancellor Dr. Ronald Larsen. She is pictured receiving a retirement gift.
MSUB celebrates annual Faculty Excellence
Awards given to many distinguished faculty at MSUB and City College, retirees acknowledged for the decades of service to higher education
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University Relations, 657-2266
MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — The most anticipated announcement during the annual Montana State University Billings Faculty Excellence Awards is the Walter and Charlotte Pippenger Excellence in Innovation Award.
This year’s winner is Dr. Tasneem Khaleel. Khaleel is an extraordinary educator, who sets the standard for excellence.
For four decades, Professor Khaleel’s leadership in the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences has been innovative and visionary, influencing generations of science students.
While the botanist’s research focuses on embryology, cytology and taxonomy, her stellar work with the MSUB herbarium was highlighted during the award ceremony.
The university’s herbarium is a collection of preserved plant species that sits in a series of corner lockers at the MSU Billings science building. The herbarium is a major point of pride of and overseen by Khaleel.
She is proud of helping “elevate the status of the University,” with this tremendous project receiving international interest.
Richard and Cheri Cox, their sons Shaun and Scott Cox, and the members of the Cox Family in honor of Mrs. Cox’s parents, established the award in 2005.
It is awarded each year to an individual or group whose efforts, projects or programs demonstrate significant improvement in the undergraduate teaching and learning experience.
About 250 people attended the annual MSU Billings Faculty Excellence Awards celebration, which was held at the Northern Hotel with an awards ceremony and dinner.
Faculty and students were joined by community and business leaders to honor the 12 faculty members recognized.
Faculty honored include Outstanding Service Learning Award winner Lynne Fitzgerald, program coordinator and assistant professor, Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program. Don Larsen, Ph. D, assistant professor of management, won two awards: Promoting International Student Success Award and the MCIE Award for Support of Students with Disabilities (MCIE). The other MCIE award was given to Dr. Laura Tayer, lecturer of Inorganic Chemistry. The Dr. Tasneem Khaleel Award for Mentoring Young Female Professionals winner was Jenna Phillips, LCPC, mental health counselor and Phoenix Center Coordinator. Elizabeth Fullon, department chair of general education at City College, was the winner of the City College Leadership Award. Brenda Dockery, adjunct marketing instructor and online and internship advisor earned the Excellence Award for Non-Tenured Faculty. Assistant Professor of Art Jodi Lightner received the Winston & Helen Cox Fellowship Award. Jessie Perius, part-time instructor, was given the Excellence Award for Part-Time Faculty and the three winners of the Faculty Excellence Award: Dr. Paul Pope, assistant professor of political science; Bruce Brumley, Instructor of Computer Systems, City College; and Associate Professor of Accounting and Business, Dr. Salem Lotfi Boumediene.
The 2017 Faculty Excellence Award program is available here.