Northwestern State University of Louisiana

Excellence in Teaching Awards Presented

The Excellence in Teaching award recipients were chosen by their colleagues based on their contributions to their college and university in the area sof scholarship, leadership and service.

Honored were Bill Shaw, College of Liberal Arts; Dr. Margaret S. Kilcoyne, College of Business; Dr. Ron McBride, College of Education; Dr. Rondo Keele, Louisiana Scholars’ College; Renee Downey, College of Nursing, and Dr. Sonia Tinsley, College of Science and Technology

Shaw is an assistant professor of criminal justice. He is a graduate of the State Police Academy and served as a law enforcement officer in Louisiana and Texas. He is a retired detective sergeant from the city police department of Mineral Wells, Texas. Shaw holds graduate degrees from NSU and the University of North Texas in anthropology and criminal justice, respectively. In addition to NSU, he has served as a faculty member of Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas, Lee College in Baytown, Texas, and Louisiana College in Pineville.

Kilcoyne is an associate professor of business administration and the director of business programs at Northwestern. Dr. Kilcoyne earned her Ph.D. at Louisiana State University. Her research has been published in refereed journals and she has made numerous presentations internationally, nationally, regionally, and locally. In 2004, she won the 2004 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award Winner and the Thomson Business & Professional Publishing Outstanding Educator of Association of Business Information Systems. In 2005 she won the Outstanding Doctoral Research Award from Delta Pi Epsilon, the Outstanding Career & Technical Educator of the Year (Louisiana) in Business Education, and the Outstanding Post-Secondary Business Educator (Louisiana).

McBride is a tenured full professor in the College of Education with work experience in secondary, community college, and higher education. Since 1986, he has been a pioneer in Louisiana in distance education. He is a former director of Telelearning, Project Outreach at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, a predecessor of the Louisiana Virtual High School; the Office of Telecommunications and Distance Learning at Northwestern. McBride is a former head of the Department of Journalism, and currently coordinates the graduate program in Educational Technology at NSU. Dr. McBride has served as principal investigator for $1.4 million and co-investigator for $1.13 million in grants. McBride has received two international awards, one national and other recognition for his work with educational programs delivered at a distance.

Keele is an assistant professor of philosophy in the Scholars' College. Before coming to NSU, Keel worked at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. His specialty is medieval philosophy, in particular William of Ockham. He also teaches introduction to philosophy, ancient philosophy, logic, and world religions, a subject enriched by his stay in Egypt where he had the opportunity to enter a number of the pyramids (for insight into the ancient world) and to be surrounded by Muslim culture (increasing his understanding of this major religion). Keele did his undergraduate studies and graduate studies at the University of Utah and obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy from Indiana University. Keele studies mediaeval manuscripts in his research and enjoys Latin literature. He recently presented a paper called "The Matter of Soul: Candia Contra Averroistas," at the International Workshop on Peter of Candia hosted by the University of Cyprus. In addition, he's currently working on Islamic influences on mediaeval Christian theories of the soul.

Downey is an assistant professor for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at the NSU College of Nursing Shreveport Campus. She is the coordinator of the medical and surgical levels for nursing students and she is the advisor for the Shreveport Student Government Association. She is also a member of several distinguished organizations, including the national honor society Sigma Theta Tau, the America Nurses Association and the Shreveport District Nurses Association.

Tinsley is an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science. She serves on the Teacher Education Council, Institutional Review Board, and the Athletic Council at NSU and is a member of the State and National Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She has been selected as the 2009 Louisiana college health educator of the year for the Louisiana AAHPERD. Tinsley is also a member of the Louisiana Action for Healthy Kids Team. She has also been a facilitator of the School Health Index and the Wellness Policy Tracker for the School Wellness Committees in Allen, Catahoula, Vernon and Grant parish schools. She has also made a variety of presentations throughout the state of Louisiana related to coordinated school health, teacher stress and female college athletes and stress. Sonia is currently a co-coordinator for the Natchitoches Parish School Health Advisory Board.