Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to share with you that Dr. Melissa Carsten, human resource management
professor in the College of Business Administration, has been named the 2018 recipient
of Winthrop's highest teaching award, the Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Read more about Melissa's contributions to our learning community in the following
news release. And do please take the time to congratulate Melissa on this stellar
accomplishment when you see her around campus and at the Commencement ceremony on
December 15.
Sincerely,
Dan
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA - Winthrop University will honor Business Professor Melissa
Carsten with its top teaching award in recognition of her many teaching contributions
to the institution at the Dec. 15 Commencement ceremony.
President Dan Mahony will present Carsten with the 2018 James Pinckney Kinard and
Lee Wicker Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching during the 11 a.m. ceremony at
the Winthrop Coliseum. More than 285 undergraduates and 45 graduate students will
receive their degrees during the ceremony. Giving the keynote address will be Cheryl
Fortner-Wood, a psychology professor who was the 2017 Kinard Award recipient.
The Kinard Award is given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated a dedication
to teaching and is highly regarded on campus by faculty and students. Established
by the Kinard family, it honors former Winthrop President James P. Kinard and his
wife, Lee Wicker Kinard.
Carsten joined the Winthrop faculty in 2008 after earning a doctorate in organizational
psychology from Claremont Graduate University and holding a post-doctoral fellowship
at the University of Nebraska. She also holds a master's degree in industrial-organizational
psychology from San Francisco State University and a bachelor's degree in psychology
from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
At Winthrop, she was promoted to associate professor in the marketing and management
department in 2013 and then to professor in 2016. She has taught courses in organizational
behavior, human resources management and statistics. Her research interests focus
on leadership and followership in organizations and the role that implicit followership
theories play in leader-follower interactions.
Provost Debra Boyd said Carsten is a faculty member who has made a significant impact
in the decade that she has taught at Winthrop. "Dr. Carsten engages students inside
and beyond the classroom. Her clear focus on student intellectual development and
her willingness to work with students to chart their own intellectual paths have been
the hallmarks of her work since coming to Winthrop. Students respect her for the
high standards she sets and for the ways in which she mentors them to meet those standards."
On sabbatical during the fall, Carsten spent the last few months in Australia where
she was a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney. She collaborated with faculty
and local hospitals to assist in transitions and major organizational changes implemented
across the health network.
Praised for her practical, hands-on experiences offered in her classroom, Carsten
has designed courses, led international field experience trips to Italy, advised the
award-winning student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, and has
mentored junior faculty.
In addition, she has published 16 articles, edited two books, authored eight book
chapters and given over 25 conference presentations during her time in academia.
In 2015, Carsten received the College of Business Administration's Wells Fargo Excellence
in Teaching Award; in 2016, the Jane LaRoche Graduate Faculty Award at Commencement;
and in 2017, the Springs Industries Research Excellence Award in her college.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404
or e-mail her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
