Dr. Ahlberg has been nominated for the 2024 HOPE Award. HOPE stands for Honoring Our Professor’s Excellence and is the highest recognition a student can bestow on a faculty member.
Residence Life and Student Housing believes that it is important to highlight those professors who have gone above and beyond in their role. The HOPE Banquet is an opportunity each spring for students from all residential communities to celebrate faculty excellence and involvement in the student experience at SMU.
Carlos Zarazaga was awarded the 2023 Economics Adjunct Teaching Award at the annual Economics Department awards dinner in December. Carlos joined the SMU faculty 3 ½ years ago, teaching Intermediate Macroeconomics. His professional experience working for the Federal Reserve System for 27 years gives him a unique perspective that students value. Carlos also participates in workshops with graduate students, and engages in research with faculty in the department. About his experience at SMU, Carlos says “…I find it rewarding that in the last class of the semester a bunch of them (undergraduates) usually come to shake my hand and tell me how much they appreciate that my Intermediate Macroeconomic class, albeit challenging, has allowed them to gain some understanding of the economic intricacies behind the Fed monetary policy decisions, about which they had read before almost daily in the press without a clue of what all the fuss was about. But perhaps my best claim to fame is to have managed to get only one disparaging email about my teaching skills from the 250 undergraduate students or so I have had in my courses since I joined the department.” Carlos is a great asset to the department, and we are deeply grateful for his collegiality and professionalism.
Dr. Helen Reynolds, Senior Lecturer and Maguire Teaching Fellow is one of three winners of the 2023 Extra Mile Award for exceptional work helping and inspiring students who learn differently.
She is known for her engaging teaching style, dedication to teaching and learning, and her caring demeanor. Students say she explains topics thoroughly and uses visual aids to help visual learners. She also helps students with accommodations for testing, working around their schedules and making herself available to answer questions. Congratulations on this well deserved award!
