Pallab Paul, associate professor of marketing in DU’s Daniels College of Business, received the William T. Driscoll Master Educator Award at the Pioneer Awards Ceremony on May 14.
The award is given annually to a faculty or staff member for excellence in teaching or mentoring.
Paul makes himself available to students several times a week for lunch meetings to discuss academic, career or personal experiences, says Elizabeth de Wys, a student who nominated him for the award.
“Dr. Paul frequently inquires as to how individual students are doing personally and academically,” says de Wys. “He is enthusiastic and engaged in the professional and personal development of students in and out of the classroom.”
Paul has taught at the University of Denver since 1991. He teaches a variety of marketing courses, including courses on international marketing and business and marketing on the Internet.
He has received a variety of awards for teaching excellence, including the Daniels College of Business Professor of the Year award for the 1997–98 year.
“I have taught in 27 universities all over the world in the last 18 years and I’ve always thought that DU students are the best,” says Paul. “I was so delighted to get the award, and it just helps my conviction that this is best place to teach and these are the best students.”
The award is named after William Driscoll, who came to the University in 1944 to teach zoology. He was an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the time of his death in 1983. He’s also the namesake for the Driscoll Student Center.
Correspondence in Penrose Library archives indicate Driscoll spent a great deal of time with students and working on the academic standards committee.
“Driscoll was very popular, interested in his student’s lives and in their well-being,” says John Nichols, Driscoll Center director and award program organizer. “This award is given in his honor, and is designed to recognize faculty and staff who are as committed to students as Driscoll was.”
Paul was nominated for the award by five of his marketing students and was chosen from a field of eight faculty nominees. All nominees were evaluated by a committee made up of Nichols, two staff members from the Student Life division and a faculty member. Each nominee was evaluated based on his or her involvement in University activities, appreciation of student ideas and opinions, commitment to diversity, investment in student development and ability to serve as an exceptional role model to University students.