Seven Faculty Honored for Their Accomplishments
Seven faculty members were honored for excellence in the areas of teaching, research and service at the College of Business Awards Reception May 2.
Dr. Karan Bhanot, associate professor of finance and a U.S. Global Investors Inc. Fellow, received the E. Lou Curry Teaching Excellence Award. The college’s premier teaching award, the E. Lou Curry Award is presented in memory of Lou Curry, a respected faculty member who passed away in 1995.
Bhanot teaches at all levels from Ph.D. students to undergraduates, and he incorporates his research into the classroom at all levels. He teaches an extensive portfolio of classes that include empirical finance, investment theory and speculative markets and investment management. Bhanot is noted for teaching rigorous courses, but making them relevant for his students.Â
The Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award for Non-Tenure Track Faculty was presented to Dr. Tom Cannon, senior lecturer in marketing and director of the tourism management program. During his 10 years in the college, he has demonstrated unique ways to engage the students in the learning process. He immerses himself in professional organizations at the local, state and national levels to assure that he is bringing the most contemporary and relevant materials into the classroom. He has also personally arranged and supervised internships for tourism students.
In the area of research excellence, Dr. Rajan Kadapakkam, professor of finance and a U.S. Global Investors Inc. Fellow, was named the Col. Jean Piccione and Lt. Col. Philip Piccione Endowed Research Award recipient. Kadapakkam is an instrumental contributor to the research efforts in the Department of Finance. His research is in the broad area of corporate finance, is international in scope and has improved the basic understanding of the relationship between corporate finance and capital markets.
His publications have appeared in highly regarded journals such as the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, theJournal of Business, the Journal of Financial Research and the Review of Financial Studies. In addition to his research, he has also taken the time to mentor students in the doctoral program. He has co-chaired one dissertation and has co-authored six papers with Ph.D. students.
Dr. Ram Tripathi, professor of management science and statistics, received the Patrick J. Clynes Service Award. He has a record of over 30 years of service to UTSA. Throughout this time he has served on numerous department, college and university level committees. He serves as the department representative to the graduate council, and is the graduate advisor of record for both the master’s and the doctoral program in applied statistics. He is past president of the American Statistical Association local chapter and serves as an associate editor of two journals.
At the non-tenure track level, Dr. Karen Williams, senior lecturer in information systems, received the Dean’s Excellence Award for Service. Since coming to UTSA in 1992, Williams has developed a multifaceted approach to university and community service. For the past two years, she piloted the college’s business course in the university’s Early College High School Initiative Program. In addition, she serves on the University’s Faculty Senate, is secretary of the college’s Faculty Forum and is a vocal supporter of the Roadrunner Cat Coalition, which works to rescue, feed, and spay and neuter the feral cat population on campus.
Dr. Victoria Jones, associate professor of marketing and director of the Business Studies for the Americas Program, received the first Dean’s Excellence Award for Advancing Globalization. Jones has fostered numerous relationships to strengthen Latin American programs for faculty, students and the local business community. Due to her efforts, the college is now the headquarters of the Business Association for Latin American Studies, and is a member of such prestigious international organizations as EFMD and CLADEA.Â
She has worked to restructure the college’s International MBA, and she received a prestigious Business in International Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Programming developed by Dr. Jones includes immersion programs to Brazil, a bilingual business certificate program, establishing a Global Business Club for students, a visiting international faculty seminar series and developing innovative courses such as the new Border Business Course with UT-Pan America and EGADE in Mexico.
Finally, Dr. Pamela Smith, associate professor of accounting, received the college’s Endowed 1969 Commemorative Faculty Award for Overall Faculty Excellence. This award honors a faculty member for their accomplishments in teaching, research and service.  Smith teaches Taxation I and developed and taught the graduate tax research course this fall. She consistently receives the top evaluation marks in the department from her students even though the courses are rigorous and challenging.
Her research area is taxation of not-for-profit organizations, with a special emphasis on hospitals and healthcare institutions. She has published 13 discipline-based articles since joining the faculty in 2001 in both taxation and health care journals. She is an active volunteer for professional and civic organizations such as Junior League, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, the National Association of Black Accountants as well as the Ph.D. project, a program dedicated to increasing the number of minorities in business Ph.D. programs.
Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu
