Iowa State alumnus Kenneth Sufka received the 2014 Mississippi Professor of the Year award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Sufka, who was born in Mason City and grew up in Des Moines, is a professor of psychology and pharmacology at the University of Mississippi. He earned three degrees from Iowa State, a bachelor’s degree in 1986, a master’s in 1988 and his Ph.D. in 1990. Each degree was in psychology from Iowa State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

According to their website, the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program celebrates outstanding instructors across the country. Sponsored by CASE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, it is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate education.

Sufka has taught courses in general psychology, biopsychology and physiological psychology at the University of Mississippi since 1992. His research is in behavioral neuroscience and psychopharmacology.

Sufka also supports the Kenneth Sufka Undergraduate Scholarship in Psychology, a scholarship he established in recognition of professors Richard A. Hughes and Ronald H. Peters, his mentors at Iowa State.