Presidential Award of Excellence for Faculty Service to International Students

2007 Finalists

Dr. Toby Egan
Assistant Professor, Educational Administration and Human Resources Department

Dr. Egan is a dedicated faculty member who diligently serves international students in the Educational Administration and Human Resources Department. He continues to reach out to international students with a compassion that is infrequently matched. He mentors and nurtures the careers of his international students both academically and personally. Dr. Egan teaches students to appreciate and value the diversity in our student body and in the world at large. Students agree that Dr. Egan is indeed an excellent professor and researcher, as well as an open-minded advisor who is always willing to provide guidance to international students, and one who enjoys talking and listening to people from diverse cultures.

Dr. Lloyd W. Rooney
Regents Professor and Faculty Fellow, Soil and Crop Sciences Department

Dr. Lloyd Rooney has 41 years of active involvement with international students in education and research programs. He not only welcomes international students, but integrates them into his teaching, training, mentoring and research activities, staying in contact with them upon their return to their home countries. He has provided direct assistance to students from seventeen countries and indirect assistance to many others. Dr. Rooney instills cohesion among his students by inviting them to become a part of his family and to enjoy the American experience, but also by encouraging them to look at each other as family. Dr. Rooney will be remembered for his relentless work and close relationship with international students and international research projects and especially for his great and selfless attitude.

Dr. Jyotsna Vaid
Professor and Interim Director of International Studies Interdisciplinary Degree Program

Dr. Vaid’s modest and quiet demeanor conceals a person of passionate commitment to diversification and internationalization of the academic environment. She promotes interaction between international and U.S. students in her class and outside the classroom, encouraging students from different countries to share their experiences with each other and facilitating connections between international and U.S. students. Dr. Vaid makes a conscious effort to keep her former students as engaged as she does her current students. Through her research she works to bring about a better understanding of the psychological and socio-cultural aspects of the population, not just at Texas A&M, but worldwide.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller
Professor, Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department

Dr. Winemiller is a personable, caring and respectful advisor that welcomes students from different backgrounds and makes them part of his team. Though coming to the U.S. for the first time may give his students a feeling of not belonging, Dr. Winemiller makes them feel welcome immediately. He is committed to finding a way to ensure that his international students succeed in their professional and personal lives while feeling at home in the U.S. He always finds time to integrate his international students into the Aggie culture, bringing them together with U.S. students. The multicultural environment in his lab allows international students and U.S. students to collaborate, broadening their cultural and professional perspectives.