TORCH Summer 09.qxd - Lee University

CAMPUS News(l-r) Mike Iosia,Shane Griffith,Trevor MillironThree Faculty Honoredwith Excellence AwardsEACH YEAR at spring commencement,Lee University President Dr.Paul Conn has the privilege of presentingthe three most prestigiousfaculty awards. The following areportions of his comments:MR. SHANE GRIFFITHExcellence in AdvisingEach year the university honors afaculty member who has distinguishedhim or herself in the effectivenessof student advising. For eachsenior who graduates today, therehas been a faculty advisor to helpnavigate the complicated path fromthat first week as a freshman to beingfinally cleared for graduation.This year, we honor Mr. ShaneGriffith, a lecturer who has recentlytransferred from the Mathematics facultyto the Department of Business. Ina department with a large number ofmajors, Mr. Griffith carried one of theheaviest advisor loads on the faculty.Still, he finds time and makes theeffort to help his students so effectivelythat he has made himself conspicuousby the excellence of his advising.His students, as well as his colleagueson the faculty, say he is a model ofthe instructor who consistently goes“above and beyond the call of duty,”not just with his own advisees, butwith other students as well. Mr.Griffith is always available to them,knows what he is doing, and seems tobring a little extra patience and kindnessto those problems which areespecially challenging.DR. MIKE IOSIAExcellence in ScholarshipThis award winner is chosen eachyear by a committee which includesformer members of the award, alongwith other professors whose owntrack record in research is noteworthy.This committee considered eightnominees which were offered bydepartment chairs, and emerged thisyear with a unanimous choice.Dr. Mike Iosia is newcomer tothe Lee faculty, joining us in 2007as an assistant professor in ExercisePhysiology. As an undergraduateMike was a football player at theUniversity of Southern Mississippi.He came to Lee fourteen years laterafter earning a Ph.D. in exercisephysiology from the University ofAlabama, along with a mastersdegree from Auburn University.Dr. Iosia has quickly become akey player in our newly developedprogram in Athletic Training. Eventhough this major included a significanthands-on component, it is alsolike all other academic majors, drivenby research and a well-developedcurricular literature. In addition to histeaching duties, Mike is also an exceptionalscholar who contributes to thatbody of professional literature. He isthe author or co-author of numerouspublications in scholarly journals, andhas already, in his two years at Lee,published several new pieces ofresearch in such publications as TheJournal of the International Society ofSports Nutrition and The Journal ofStrength and Conditioning Research.DR. TREVOR MILLIRONExcellence in TeachingThis award winner is chosen byan anonymous committee whichincludes three faculty members andthree graduating seniors. Because weprize nothing more highly thanteaching, we regard this award as thegreatest compliment we can bestow.Dr. Trevor Milliron is a professor ofPsychology who joined the faculty in1998. He came with the Ph.D. in ClinicalPsychology from Fuller, the firstclinical psychologist ever hired on ourfull-time faculty. In this, his first teachingposition following grad school, Dr.Milliron quickly demonstrated that heis a gifted teacher as well. Lee has anoutstanding program in counselingpsychology, and Trevor has establishedhimself as the leader of the large andimportant area. He was recently asked,in addition to his teaching duties, todirect the various masters degree programsin counseling.It is in the classroom, however,that Trevor has earned his reputationas one of Lee’s finest faculty members.He is a professor who doesn'tavoid teaching the basic coursessuch as introductory psychology tolarge classes of freshmen and sophomores,and still is considered at thetop of his department in teachingthe more advanced senior-levelcourses. In both types of classroomsettings, he is unfailingly judged bystudents to be a gifted teacher whocares deeply about his disciplinewhile still caring more fundamentallyabout them as individuals.18 TORCH • Summer 2009