ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA - Winthrop University will honor Business Professor Melissa Carsten with its top teaching award in recognition of her many teaching contributions to
the institution at the Dec. 15 Commencement ceremony.
President Dan Mahony will present Carsten with the 2018 James Pinckney Kinard and Lee Wicker Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching during the 11 a.m. ceremony at the Winthrop Coliseum. More than 285 undergraduates and 45 graduate students will receive their degrees during the ceremony. Giving the keynote address will be Cheryl Fortner-Wood, a psychology professor who was the 2017 Kinard Award recipient.
The Kinard Award is given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated a dedication to teaching and is highly regarded on campus by faculty and students. Established by the Kinard family, it honors former Winthrop President James P. Kinard and his wife, Lee Wicker Kinard.
Carsten joined the Winthrop faculty in 2008 after earning a doctorate in organizational psychology from Claremont Graduate University and holding a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Nebraska. She also holds a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from San Francisco State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
At Winthrop, she was promoted to associate professor in the marketing and management department in 2013 and then to professor in 2016. She has taught courses in organizational behavior, human resources management and statistics. Her research interests focus on leadership and followership in organizations and the role that implicit followership theories play in leader-follower interactions.
Provost Debra Boyd said Carsten is a faculty member who has made a significant impact in the decade that she has taught at Winthrop. “Dr. Carsten engages students inside and beyond the classroom. Her clear focus on student intellectual development and her willingness to work with students to chart their own intellectual paths have been the hallmarks of her work since coming to Winthrop. Students respect her for the high standards she sets and for the ways in which she mentors them to meet those standards.”
On sabbatical during the fall, Carsten spent the last few months in Australia where she was a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney. She collaborated with faculty and local hospitals to assist in transitions and major organizational changes implemented across the health network.
Praised for her practical, hands-on experiences offered in her classroom, Carsten has designed courses, led international field experience trips to Italy, advised the award-winning student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, and has mentored junior faculty.
In addition, she has published 16 articles, edited two books, authored eight book chapters and given over 25 conference presentations during her time in academia.
In 2015, Carsten received the College of Business Administration’s Wells Fargo Excellence in Teaching Award; in 2016, the Jane LaRoche Graduate Faculty Award at Commencement; and in 2017, the Springs Industries Research Excellence Award in her college.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or e-mail her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
