Virginia State University News October 30, 2014 Business Professor Wins International Teaching Award Kim Gower, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Reginald F. Lewis College of Business at Virginia State University, has been awarded the 2014 New Educator Award by the OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators. The New Educator Award recognizes promising academics who make a difference in the field of management education through exceptional classroom instruction, educational innovation and cutting-edge promise and creativity through their teaching, scholarship, and/or service. New Educator Award nominees are to be at an early stage of their teaching careers, defined as regularly teaching for the past five years or less. This includes those who have earned a doctorate degree in 2010 or later and have taken a full time, tenure-track position following completion of their degree. Gower was cited for her record of teaching excellence and "classroom as an organization" approach, which involves students in the learning experience through service learning and community-based projects. While at VSU, Gower has used this method in the College of Business capstone Strategy class, an experience cited by her students as playing a key role in them securing high level, professional positions after graduation. Gower was nominated by her former Ph.D. advisor and mentor, Dr. Margaret L. Williams, dean of the University of North Dakota College of Business and Public Administration. In her nomination letter, Williams wrote "Many aspects of teaching that I have had to work to develop over the course of my career come naturally to Kim. She relates to students, engages them in the classroom, and challenges them to move beyond their roles as 'students' to accept the adult challenges that await them beyond school." The OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators is the oldest, international professional organization dedicated to teaching and learning excellence in the organizational and management sciences. Society members are faculty at universities and colleges throughout the world, as well as business educators and management consultants. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.