Colleagues and students say this year's Outstanding Teaching and Professional Service Award winners fulfill the missions of the university — teaching, research and service — with dedication and style.

Joseph Biernacki, professor of Chemical Engineering, has won the Outstanding Faculty Award in Professional Service. Ada Haynes, associate professor of Sociology, has won the Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching.

Both will be recognized for their achievements and receive plaques and $1,500 honorariums during commencement ceremonies tomorrow.

Biernacki

To manage his many efforts, Biernacki organizes his professional service into three categories: service to his professional community, outreach to the community at large, and service to the university.

A member of six professional organizations, he escalates the national reputation of the university through holding offices and contributing to the research, engineering and education efforts of these organizations.

"Joe never fails to energize the room with his enthusiasm," says Professor David Lange, a member of the Civil Engineering faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "I am particularly impressed with Joe's work with one of the top groups pursuing fundamental research of cement-based, ceramic and other porous materials."

Biernacki has made impressive contributions to the American Concrete Institute and American Ceramic Society. He served three ACI chairmanships in the past few years, service that the organization calls "a rare level of achievement and contribution."

Through educational outreach to the community, Biernacki fulfills our mission of finding creative ways to serve. He has organized four educational outreach activities and published a high school curriculum.

After receiving a $250,000 National Science Foundation grant for a new microscopy laboratory on campus, he organized in-service training for high school teachers.

Students and campus-based organizations have also been a priority of Biernacki’s. He has been adviser to the TTU chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon for some five years, during which time the group received its campus charter. As vice president and president of our chapter of Sigma Xi, he focused the organization on disseminating current research findings among faculty and between science and engineering. And recently, one of his graduate students became the first TTU student to receive an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Biernacki, whose research interests include chemical reaction phenomena and synthesis, the material science of cement-based materials, high-temperature processing, and micro-scale engineering, received doctoral and master's degrees from Cleveland State University. Before joining TTU in 1997, he had 15 years of professional experience in engineering research and development with British Petroleum.

Haynes

"Dr. Haynes is a facilitator of the greatest gift to humans: knowledge," says student Matthew Byrge.

Haynes' students say lectures come to life when she takes them outside the classroom to receive hands-on experience. The lessons come to life when they see theory in action as they learn to help people deal with sociological challenges.

"Spending one day in Dr. Haynes' classroom is enough to leave a lasting impression on anyone," says student Jessica Slatten. "Instead of learning that several individuals in Cookeville are starving, students research possible ways to actually do something to help."

Haynes also has a special talent for grooming students for graduate school, says Sociology Professor Jeffrey Riemer.

"The theme that cuts across her academic work is one of caring for other people and trying to make the world a better place for us all," says Riemer. "She does this cheerfully with a clear love for people."

Haynes lends time and expertise to dozens of community organizations and activities. A sampling of her efforts includes being the adviser and co-founder of One World, an organization to promote diversity, serving as a board member of the Upper Cumberland Dismas House, and working on the governor's Tennessee Women's Economic Council Job Training Task Force.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Haynes organized several activities in response to the crisis. She organized a Unity Dinner, Unity Tree, a Unity in Time of Crisis Forum, and a Unity Circle on our campus attended by 2,000 people.

She has led students in producing two recent documentaries, "From the Front Porch to the Stage: Sounds of Appalachia" and "Free Hills."

Haynes, who joined the faculty in 1989, earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Tennessee Tech and a doctorate from Florida State University. Her book Poverty in Central Appalachia: Underdevelopment and Exploitation was a 1997 Garland Publishing release.