Earlier this month, the College of Engineering took a time out during its fall convocation to honor five of its faculty members for their outstanding performance in higher education.

“I think we have a lot of really good faculty members,” said James Melsa, dean of the College of Engineering. “We don’t do nearly as good of job recognizing them as we should.”

Melsa said the faculty awards are an important thing, as did David Holger, associate dean for academic programs and budget for the College of Engineering.

“It’s one of the ways in which we recognize performance that is above and beyond expectations,” Holger said.

The fall convocation was held Sept. 8 in Room 207 of Marston Hall. Holger said the convocation is the fall meeting of the faculty of the College of Engineering.

At the convocation, Melsa talked about what the college accomplished the previous year and what the college should aim to accomplish in the coming year. He then presented the faculty recognition awards.

“Clearly, it was an outstanding group,” Holger said. “It normally is.”

The award winners are chosen by a faculty awards committee, which selects faculty members based on nominations by their colleagues, Holger said. The committee screens the nominations and comes to a decision on whom will receive the awards.

“Generally, there are a fair number of nominees, so the competition is pretty intense,” he said.

Holger said there are five possible awards, and the department does not require that all are given out every year.

The recipients get a certificate of achievement and a monetary award, Holger said.

“The monetary amount varies for different awards,” he said.

The award winners must be faculty members with an appointment in the College of Engineering, and nominations must include evidence of the nominees’ professionalism.

Melsa said one of the five awards is given for outstanding teaching performance, based not only on excellent teaching, but also on a variety of other activities and performance.

Judy Vance, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Douglas Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, both received the Superior Engineering Teaching awards.

Patrick Patterson, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, received the Superior Engineering Advisor award.

Ken Kruempel, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, received the Superior Engineering Extension award.

Christopher Schilling, associate professor of materials science and engineering, received the Young Engineering Faculty Research Award.

“I think it’s important to recognize the people who achieve beyond the norm,” Holger said.

Melsa agreed, and he said that the college has some exceptional professors.

“We have a lot of faculty members (240) — we think a lot of them are outstanding,” Melsa said. “We don’t get a chance to recognize but five or six a year.”