Students and colleagues say our 2005 Outstanding Faculty Award winners are the tightrope walkers of their fields, displaying incredible balance in their teaching, research and service.

Bonita Barger, assistant professor of Decision Sciences and Management, and Daniel J. Swartling, assistant professor of Chemistry, have been named the recipients of the Outstanding Faculty Awards in Teaching. Eugene A. Kline, professor of Chemistry, has won our Outstanding Faculty Award in Professional Service.

All three were recognized for their achievements last weekend during spring commencement ceremonies.

Bonita Barger

Bonita Barger has taken an active role in developing our distance education opportunities by creating five online courses for undergraduate and graduate students at TTU and the Tennessee Board of Regents and four online courses for the College of Business’ Distance MBA program.

“Her courses serve as models for others who are designing their own online courses, and in this way, she is not only a teacher to her students but to other faculty as well,” says Linda Lerner, professor of management.

Barger also possesses a passion for the environment and multicultural and diversity issues that have led her to volunteer with the Peace Corps in El Salvador and present papers at international professional conferences at Oxford University in England, Cuba and other locations around the world.

“Her wealth of life experiences contributes directly to a breadth and depth of human resources development she teaches in her classes and workshops,” says Connie K. Hood, English professor and director of our Honors Program.

Gary C. Pickett, chairperson of Decision Sciences and Management, describes Barger as a superior researcher and innovative instructor who consistently gets exceptional evaluations from her students.

“Dr. Barger is a compassionate and sensitive teacher and faculty colleague," he says. "Students like and respect her. They value her knowledge and experience, and they know she will always do more than her fair share to insure their success. She is not just a teacher, but a mentor, a counselor and an adviser to her students."

A member of our faculty since 2000, Barger received a doctorate in human resource development from Vanderbilt University.

Dan Swartling

Daniel J. Swartling — known affectionately as “Dr. Dan” — has the unique ability to motivate and challenge while simultaneously earning the respect and admiration of his students.

“As chairperson of the Chemistry Department," says Scott Northrup, "I’ve had an opportunity over many years to observe his performance, and I have been very impressed with the level of rigor he brings to the discipline and the demands he places on students, and yet at the same time, he elicits their utmost admiration."

Jeff Boles, associate professor of Chemistry, agrees, saying, “His students continually recognize the depth of his care for them no matter the circumstance. For example, even though Dan is a vigorous instructor who maintains integrity in the classroom, his teaching evaluations have always been some of the best in our department.”

Swartling earns the respect and admiration of students by a combination of teaching with unconventional methods, presenting exciting chemical demonstrations in a way that teaches difficult material as simply as possible, and offering an “open door policy” that makes him universally approachable to students.

“Dr. Dan helped me, taught me and counseled me in so many ways during my time at Tennessee Tech, and he continues to do so now that I am a teacher," says former student Staci D. Smith. "He has still been available by e-mail or by phone anytime I’ve needed him.”

Another way Swartling goes “above and beyond” is by occasionally teaching a medicinal chemistry course needed by many Health Sciences Pre-professional majors but not offered in the Chemistry Department’s regular rotation, Boles says, “even though personal sacrifice is a component each time.”

Swartling joined our faculty in 1994 and earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of North Dakota.

Eugene Kline

Eugene Kline recently performed a singular service activity by working with Gov. Phil Bredesen’s office, area physicians and other state agencies on a research project that could ultimately curb the production of methamphetamine in Tennessee.

“In an effort to get common over-the-counter cold remedies, such as Sudafed, put in more restricted areas of stores, the governor’s office needed a scientist to prove how simple it is to produce meth in a single-step synthesis from those medications,” says Northrup.

“Gene gave up his Christmas vacation to go to work on this project for the governor’s office and spent the next two months working after hours and over weekends to provide results for this study, which could have profound and lasting ramifications on this community, state and even nation."

Sullivan Smith, medical director of Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Department and group leader of the governor’s meth task force, says Kline carried out the research “at considerable expense of his personal family plans”; during an illness and death in Smith’s family, Kline took an even more active role in the project.

In addition, he is an enthusiastic adviser of our Health Sciences Pre-professional program and a passionate instructor.

“If you’ve ever seen him in the classroom, you’ll see why I refer to him as the ‘John Madden of Organic Chemistry,'" says Northrup. "He is a bundle of enthusiasm and vigor, in love with teaching and with his subject."

Biology senior Bryan L. Watson said, “In my four years at Tennessee Tech, I’ve had several faculty members who were passionate about the subjects they taught, but I’ve had only one professor — Eugene Kline — whose love and vigor for a subject flowed out and filled the classroom.”

Kline joined our faculty in 1973 and earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from Iowa State University.