True to her commitment to learning, Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration students will benefit from a University honor presented to Associate Professor of Finance Oranee Tawatnuntachai.
Tawatnuntachai is one of only three faculty members University-wide to receive the Alumni/Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and to be named a 2010 Penn State Teaching Fellow. And she is dedicating the stipend which comes with the honor to assist students.
“I was totally surprised when I got the call from the Alumni Association,” she said. “I am very humbled and honored to be the second recipient of the award from our campus. I want to share this award with many of our faculty who have dedicated themselves to our students and I need to thank Chancellor Madlyn Hanes, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Mukund Kulkarni, and Director of the School of Business Administration Stephen Schappe for their strong support of teaching excellence and learning for our students.
“I also want to thank my students who see the value of education and work hard to achieve our common goals. The award comes with a $9,000 grant, thanks to the generosity of Penn State alumni. The money will be spent on student projects in the next three years.”
The Alumni Association, in conjunction with undergraduate and graduate governing bodies, established the award in 1988. It honors distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence in teaching. Recipients are expected to share their talents and expertise with others throughout the University during the year following the award presentation.
Tawatnuntachai joined the faculty at Penn State Harrisburg in 1999 where she has taught business courses, including financial management, problems in finance, corporate finance, investments, and portfolio management.
She has authored a weekly bulletin to keep business students up to date with lectures, assignments, and current financial and economic news. She also has written Classnotes for several subjects, served as a panelist for new faculty orientation, and has mentored faculty and students, including five undergraduates working on independent studies. Her work has appeared in publications including Financial Review, Financial Management, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Financial Research.
Tawatnuntachai received the Penn State Harrisburg Award for Teaching Excellence in 2008 and was the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society’s professor of the year in 2007.
She earned two bachelor’s degrees in her native Thailand and went on to complete a master of business administration at Indiana University at South Bend, and a master’s and doctorate from the University of New Orleans.
Honored with Tawatnuntachai were Janet Lyon, associate professor of English in the College of the Liberal Arts, and Matthew P. McAllister, professor of film/video and media studies in the College of Communications. Tawatnuntachai and Associate Professor of Computer Science Linda Null are the only Penn State Harrisburg faculty members to earn the award and teaching fellowship.