2016 Haggerty Teaching Awards

2016 Haggerty Teaching Awards

Presentation of Haggery Teaching Awards 2016

Name Description
Dr. Fernando Arellano This professor has an affinity for equations, financial modeling, and business simulations. His students find his courses to be challenging yet interactive and engaging with his experiential learning approach using Excel models and computer simulations. Students appreciate his caring attitude and open-door policy to provide additional support. Much of his scholarship also focuses on practical uses of simulations and statistical tools. When you ask him, “How are you doing?” he will quickly reply with a number which generally falls in the 90’s because he is always in a contagiously good mood. He is eager to collaborate with colleagues on various financial related topics. This Haggerty Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Dr. Fernando Arellano of the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business.
Dr. Ger Wegemer This recipient is a superb teacher, whose patient good cheer with students is legendary—whether in spirited class discussions or in hyper-detailed comments on student work. Our gentle-hearted recipient has a large following of admiring undergraduate student, and a generation of graduate students whose own teaching and research have benefitted from his careful, sustained and affectionate cultivation of young people. He is a recognized and celebrated scholar of Thomas More. He founded the annual Thomas More conference here at UD, to which the world’s greatest scholars come, giving our graduate students a wonderful opportunity to meet and participate with them in proceedings. This Haggerty Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Dr. Ger Wegemer of the English Department.
Dr. Daniel Burns This recipient is a newer member of the faculty who has already made a strong impact upon our community of students and our faculty. This teacher has found a true home in the core curriculum of the University of Dallas on both the undergraduate and graduate level, where detailed examination of texts can open up a vibrant and profound discussion of the deepest matters of human nature and the polis. His students find his lectures and discussions profoundly stimulating. A student of the work of Benedict XVI, he has the honor of belonging to the international group of scholars who travel to Europe to study the work of Benedict XVI, the Neuer Schülerkreis Josef Ratzinger. This Haggerty Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Dr. Daniel Burns of the Politics Department.

Dr. Susan Hanssen

One of Constantin College’s most popular teachers, this professor is renowned for exuberance for learning and for the Catholic liberal arts tradition, especially core texts. Highly demanding, but passionately available to her students, they flock to her office continuously for academic advice and insight. Her scholarship, like many of our award winners, combines academic interests with intellectual concern about the nature of a university education. The Education of Henry Adams is indelibly associated with her both in the classroom, and in the scholarly world of publication, where she is a national expert in the field. No one can forget her thrilling escapes from the Charity Week jail and her recitations of stirring speeches like the “Gettysburg Address.” This Haggerty Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Dr. Susan Hanssen of the History Department.
Dr. Charles Sullivan This teacher is known to have one of the liveliest classrooms in the University, where the professor often plays the devil’s advocate to encourage the students to challenge flimsily held assumptions about the class material.  Dynamic and energetic, he is also a dedicated advocate for his students, his advisees, his department, the faculty, and for liberal arts education. His interdisciplinary interests have led to important projects at the University, such as the concentration in the History and Philosophy of Science and our lectures, courses, and programs on the Holocaust. This Haggerty Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Dr. Charles Sullivan of the History Department.