Michael Benz Receives Mentoring Award
9/7/09
The road to success often requires more than just hard work and talent. It requires the guidance and insight of someone who has made that trek and is ready to help others on the journey.
Michael Benz, professor of special education in the Department of Educational Psychology, has guided many of his junior faculty colleagues along the path to success.
"Mike has been a mentor to me and several assistant professors via an informal but intense process of bi-annual meetings to discuss our plans and goals, develop research agendas and broker services and support on our behalf," says Kimberly Vannest, assistant professor of special education. "His steady mentorship through these directed meetings served to further my development in research, teaching and outreach."
Mike received his doctorate in special education and rehabilitation from the University of Oregon, where he also had strong mentors in two senior faculty members: Andrew Halpern and Hill Walker.
"Both were willing to take time from their own interests and pursuits to help me learn how to build an active program of research, secure external funding to support my research and teaching interests, and become a faculty member in the academy," Mike says.
Mike served on the University of Oregon faculty for 20 years before coming to Texas A&M University in 2004. He is currently the director for the Center on Disability and Development.
Now a senior faculty member himself, Mike not only mentors junior faculty in the special education program, he also works with assistant professors all over his department. Mike knows that mentoring is important because it helps junior faculty grow as scholars and teachers, strengthens the department, and adds to the professional field.
"Our junior faculty colleagues are the future of our profession," Mike says. "I think we have an obligation and responsibility to pass on the legacy we’ve received."
Mike's mentoring efforts will be recognized in September with the 2009 College of Education and Human Development Outstanding Faculty Mentoring Award.
"I think good mentoring starts by taking a genuine interest in the junior faculty member’s career and research interests," Mike says. "I want to know the professional passions that drive that person. I want to know what 'making a difference' looks like for that person. After that, we can begin a discussion about how professional passions can be translated into good scholarship."
"Mike's unrelenting commitment to excellence and disdain for mediocrity in scholarship related to special education and allied fields is without question," says Mack Burke, assistant professor of special education. "Moreover, his enthusiasm is contagious to the junior faculty members for whom he has provided mentorship."
