McKendree Professor of Management and Marketing is UMC Exemplary Teacher of the Year

(LEBANON, Ill., March 31, 2022) – Dr. Jean Sampson, professor of management and marketing at McKendree University, recently received the 2022 United Methodist Exemplary Teacher of the Year Award. This award was given by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. Selection criteria include excellence in teaching, civility and concern for students and colleagues, commitment to value-centered education, and service to students, the institution and the community.

Sampson earned her undergraduate degree from McKendree in 1983. She began teaching at her alma mater in 2005 and has been making a positive impact on the campus community ever since. In addition to serving as the chair of the School of Business since 2016, she has won many prestigious awards, including the William Norman Grandy Award in 2014 and Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012.

Sampson has been acknowledged as an outstanding instructor who prepares her students for various roles in the business world. “In each course, no matter how jam-packed with students it is, she creates an easy-going, respectful environment,” said Dr. Alan Alewine, associate provost. “She particularly shines in her business ethics course where she focuses on personal responsibility, inclusivity and good citizenship.”

McKendree business students know Sampson as caring, friendly and approachable. Throughout the pandemic, a time in which feeling connected to professors in an online format was difficult for students, Sampson went above and beyond to add a personal touch by posting videos, checking in with her students and informing them about what was coming up for the week. This level of care and extra effort has made her more than worthy of the award.

Sampson, who champions people with disabilities in the workforce and instills a sense of lifelong learning in her students, excels in other ways by regularly volunteering, attending campus events that her students are involved in, teaching University 101, taking on new advisees, picking up classes to teach last minute and happily serving on committees and working on projects that aren’t typically within the scope of her daily responsibilities.

“Dr. Sampson’s accomplishments fit perfectly within the award criteria framework – winners are champions of civility and concern for others and excel at service. She stays positive in her work as chair and creates and maintains a collegial atmosphere, insists upon civility and serves as the ideal anchor for the School of Business,” Alewine said. “She has the ‘heart of a Bearcat,’ warranting her receipt of the United Methodist Exemplary Teacher of the Year Award.”

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