A St. Edward’s University Professor has been named the

Alan Swinkels, a psychology professor, received the award from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Wednesday.

Swinkels was in Washington, D.C., to receive the award and was unavailable for comment, but said in a St. Edward’s press release that the award “is a great honor, and quite unexpected.”

Swinkels continued, “(a)lthough it’s an award for my teaching and scholarship, I thank my colleagues and my students, past and present, for helping shape the professor I’ve become.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 18, 2010

(Austin, TX) — St. Edward’s University is proud to announce that Alan Swinkels, professor of Psychology in the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, has been named the 2010 Texas Professor of the Year by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Swinkels was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States.

“This award is a great honor, and quite unexpected,” said Swinkels.  “I know that CASE and the Carnegie Foundation put a great deal of effort into selecting the best professors from a national pool for this recognition, and to be among those chosen feels fantastic.  Although it’s an award for my teaching and scholarship, I thank my colleagues and my students, past and present, for helping shape the professor I’ve become.”

Swinkels has taught more than 13 different courses during his academic career, but currently he teaches Statistics, Experimental Psychology, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Swinkels graduated summa cum laude from the University of San Francisco, with an honor’s degree in Psychology and a second major in Philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. During his career at St. Edward’s he spent a semester as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, and worked for two years as a development editor for Worth Publishers. Prior to coming to St. Edward’s, Swinkels was a Visiting Assistant Professor for five years at Loyola Marymount University, and was an adjunct professor at UCLA.

CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists, and the Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel. CASE and Carnegie select state and national winners from top entries resulting from the judging process. Swinkels was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.

About St. Edward’s University:

Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward’s University is named among the top five “Up-and-Coming Universities” in the Western Region by its academic peers in a 2010 U.S. News & World Report survey. For seven consecutive years St. Edward’s has been recognized as one of “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report and this year by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. St. Edward’s is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 5,200 students located in Austin, Texas. For more information on St. Edward’s University, visit www.stedwards.edu

For more information on this program, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, visit: www.case.org/poyhome.html