Faculty Awards

Dalton State College is committed to excellence and believes it is vital to celebrate and honor a faculty member’s contributions and dedication to student achievement. The Dalton State College Foundation sponsors three Faculty Excellence Awards: Teaching, Scholarship & Professional Development, and Service. Each Department, or School in the case of no separate Departments, may nominate one faculty member for each award. Departments and Schools may determine their own internal selection process.

CRITERIA

•Each year a faculty member may be nominated for only one award (e.g., a faculty member cannot be a school’s or department’s nominee in more than one category).

•A faculty member who has won an award in a given category is not eligible to be re-nominated for the same award for a period of seven years. For instance, if a faculty member won the teaching award in 2013, he or she would not be eligible for nomination of the same award until2021.

•A faculty member may be re-nominated for the same award the following year if they did not win.

•Nominees must have completed at least three years of service as a full-time faculty member at DSC and do not have to be tenure-track. Deans or chairs must verify years of service before the nomination is submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs.

•Deans and Chairs are not eligible for these awards.

Faculty are nominated by their peers from each department, those nominated submit a packet of their supporting documents for the award they were nominated for, and the Deans send letters of recommendation and support for each nominee. The College administration then decides on those faculty members that will receive the awards. Each award comes with a cash prize.

In Spring 2023, Wright School of Business nominees were Ms. Cortnee Bunch for Excellence in Service, Dr. Pat Ryle for Excellence in Scholarship and Dr. Ray Smith for Excellence in Teaching.

The following list are winners from the Wright School of Business over the last five years.

BARBARA SHIFFLER “76 AWARD FOR BUSINESS TEACHING

The award is endowed by Dalton State alumna Barbara Shiffler, class of 1976, and her husband, Ron Shiffler, in support of outstanding faculty in the WSOB who show promise of making significant contributions to the College through superior teaching for our students.  A cash prize of $400 accompanies the award, and it is the College’s only donor-endowed award.

Barbara is a wonderful friend of Dalton State College and was the 1975 “Outstanding Business Student of the Year.” Barbara loved her Dalton State experience and cited her accounting professor Dottie Smith Shaw as a formative influence and chief role model at DSC. 

Barbara Shiffler completed her bachelor’s degree in accounting and earned an MBA in finance. Barbara taught at the college level but found her vocation in quilting, winning various national and state awards for her works of art throughout the southeastern United States.

In addition to this faculty award, Barbara and her husband, Ron, also endowed a scholarship for accounting and finance students.

In Spring 2023, Dr. Caleb Watkins was awarded this honor.

Below are other winners of the Barbara Shiffler ’76 Award.