Each spring, IEEE-HKN invites all chapters to nominate an electrical/computer engineering professor for the C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Teaching Award.

Deadline to nominate someone: The first Monday after 30 April each year (Self-nominations are not accepted. Members of the IEEE-HKN Awards Committee and its subcommittees, IEEE-HKN Board of Governors members, and HKN staff may not be nominators nor endorsers of this award. )

Prize: Plaque

Award purpose

The award is intended to recognize the central and crucial role of college professors in training and motivating future electrical, computer and allied field student engineers. The program attempts to identify and give international recognition to electrical, computer and allied field engineering professors who have demonstrated special dedication and creativity in their teaching responsibilities within the first six (6) years of their academic professorial career. Thus, it is in part, a counterbalance to the significant pressure for research and publication performance on early-career professors, and a re-affirmation of the basic and essential needs of excellence in teaching.

Eligibility Requirements

Nominees must meet all the following eligibility requirements:

  • Hold a doctoral degree within the IEEE fields of interest
  • Hold an academic appointment of tenure-track Assistant Professor or its equivalent in a non-tenure-track institution and have no more than six (6) years of teaching experience at this level
  • The academic appointment must include teaching and research as consistently evaluated responsibilities
  • Have not previously received the award

Award Sub-Committee

  • Russell Meier, Chair
  • Timothy Hansen
  • Jennifer Marley
  • Hayden Kwok-Hay So

Nominating Someone for the Award

Submissions must be sent electronically through the IEEE-HKN Nomination Portal. Self-nominations are not accepted. Members of the IEEE-HKN Awards Committee and its subcommittees, IEEE-HKN Board of Governors members, and HKN staff may not be nominators nor endorsers of this award.

Award Recipients

C. Holmes MacDonald was instrumental in starting this award in 1972. MacDonald, a Bell Telephone engineer, was a long-time member of the Philadelphia alumni chapter and a past national director of HKN. After his retirement from Bell Telephone, MacDonald, pursuing his love for teaching, became a professor at Drexel University. It was at this point that MacDonald became aware of the need to recognize and encourage young electrical engineering teachers. Shortly after Holmes’ death in 1975, the award took his name: the C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Teaching Award.

Past Award Winners

2024: Dr. Gina Adam, George Washington University

2023: Dr. Colleen Bailey, University of North Texas

2022: Dr. Thomas D. O’Sullivan, University of Notre Dame

2021: Dr. Hayden Kwok-Hay So, University of Hong Kong

2020: Dr. Jennifer Marley, Valparaiso University

2019: Dr. Timothy Hansen, South Dakota State University

2018: Dr. Ward Jewell, Wichita State University

2017: Dr. Sid Suryanarayanan, Colorado State University

2016:  Dr. Ronald Joe Stanley, Missouri University of Science and Technology

2015: Dr. Preethika Kumar, Wichita State University

2014: Dr. Dmitriy Garmatyuk, Miami University

2013: Dr. Sayan Mitra, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2012: Dr. Timothy P. Kurzweg, Drexel University

2011: No Award Given

2010: Dr. Barry E. Mullins, Air Force Institute of Technology

2009: Dr. Dimitrios Peroulis, Purdue University

2008: No Award Given

2007: No Award Given

2006: No Award Given

2005: Dr. Thomas M. Talavage, Purdue University

2004: Dr. Annette von Jouanne, Oregon State University

2003: Dr. Daryl G. Beetner, University of Missouri – Rolla

2002: Dr. Noel N. Schulz, Mississippi State University

2001: Dr. Richard R. Shultz, University of North Dakota

2000: Dr. Sheila S. Hemami, Cornell University

1999: Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk, Rice University

1998: Dr. Aleta M. Ricciardi, University of Texas at Austin

1997: Dr. Wen-Mei Hwu, University of Illinois – Urbana

1996: Dr. John D. Cressler, Auburn University

1995: Dr. Jo Dale Carothers, University of Arizona

1994: Dr. Bruce L. Walcott, University of Kentucky

1993: Dr. Denice Dee Denton, University of Wisconsin at Madison

1992: Dr. Barry W. Johnson, University of Virginia

1991: Dr. Moshe Kam, Drexel University

1990: Dr. Mohammad Shahidehpour, Illinois Institute of Technology

1989: No Award Given

1988: Dr. Clifford R. Pollock, Cornell University

1987: Dr. David G. Meyer, Purdue University

1986: Dr. A. Richard Newton, University of California – Berkeley

1985: No Award Given

1984: Dr. Andrew J. Blanchard, University of Texas at Arlington

1983: No Award Given

1982: Dr. C. Richard Johnson, Cornell University

1981: Dr. Richard O. Claus, Virginia Poly. Institute

1980: No Award Given

1979: Dr. Peter S. Maybeck, Air Force Institute of Technology

1978: Dr. Russell J. Niederjohn, Marquette University

1977: Dr. John E. Fagan, University of Oklahoma

1976: Dr. Stanley R. Liberty, Texas Tech University

1975: Dr. Bruce A. Eisenstein, Drexel University

1974: Dr. Lloyd J. Griffiths, University of Colorado

1973: Dr. James Heinin, Marquette University

1972: Dr. Charles Vincent Smith, University of Texas at Arlington

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