UCI professors pocket awards

Deirdre Newman

UC Irvine professor Brad Killaly considers himself one of the

toughest graders at the Graduate School of Management.

His students agree, but also consider him one of the most

effective teachers.

Based on course evaluations from the last school year, Killaly

received an award for teaching excellence and a $10,000 cash prize

last month.

Receiving the Charles and Twyla Martin Award for Teaching

Excellence illustrates the depth of UCI students’ commitment to their

education, Killaly said.

“It never ceases to amaze me that my students consider me a good

instructor, because I’m generally one of the most tough graders in

the school,” Killaly said. “And I think it speaks not of me, but it

speaks of what students want in their education and what we deliver

-- very rigorous and demanding coursework.”

Lisa Barron, an assistant professor of organization and strategy

in the graduate school, was named the Deans’ Honoree for Excellence

in teaching her negotiations class, which is an elective.

The awards are based on student evaluations and optional

statements written by the professors. A committee reviews the

evaluations and narrows them down to a group of seven finalists who

are invited to the awards ceremony. Killaly and Barron didn’t know

until the ceremony that they had won the awards.

“I was very honored,” Barron said. “I love teaching, and it’s a

real privilege and it’s an honor when the students tell you that

you’ve been really important to them. We have some excellent teachers

here so it’s nice to be in that group.”

Killaly, also an assistant professor of organization and strategy,

taught four classes that qualified for consideration. He mainly

teaches students the skills they need to make high-level decisions on

issues such as mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing and investing

abroad.

Many of the evaluations described his no-nonsense style combined

with a great sense of humor.

“He’s very dynamic and engaging and puts people on the spot but

encourages a really strong dialogue about cases based on his style

and technique,” said second-year student Jennifer Wolf, who was on

the evaluation committee. “All of us on the committee felt strongly

that he was the best candidate this year.”

Barron teaches negotiation, organizational behavior and managerial

communication. Her teaching style is interactive, she said.

“We do a lot of simulations where [the students] negotiate, and we

analyze those,” Barron said. “They read a lot of different material

to help them prepare and learn new ways of approaching negotiation.”

In addition to doing research on salary negotiations, she has

finished a project on the symbolic meaning of money.

Killaly said he will probably use the $10,000 for research. He

lauded Twyla and Charles Martin, the founder of Laguna Beach-based

VentureLab, for establishing the award.

“Chuck and Twyla have been pulling for this school for a long

time,” Killaly said. “They’re committed to the UCI campus, committed

to higher education here in Orange County and committed to increasing

the strength of the links between the university and the business

community, which I’m all in favor of. This is a couple who cares and

gives of their money.”