Nominated by students and chosen by a faculty panel, Leasure wins teaching award

Brandon Moeller
bmoeller@uh.edu
713-743-3668

May 12, 2009

Dr. J. Leigh Leasure is this year's recipient of a Ross M. Lence Award for Teaching Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. The award will be presented during commencement ceremonies on May 15.

Candidates for the Ross M. Lence Awards for Teaching Excellence are nominated by students and are chosen by a committee formed by the college. Award winners receive a plaque and a $3,000 prize.

To qualify for the award, professors must be in their third year of full-time faculty service and the award honors excellence over a period of years, not just one year's performance, according to the awards' guidelines.

The award is named in memory of former CLASS professor Ross M. Lence, who taught political science and courses in the Honors College. Lence began his career at the University in 1971, and during his tenure raked in his share of awards as well.

In 1987, he won the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation award for teaching excellence in Texas and in 2002 he won the George Magner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising at the University of Houston.

Lence was named a prestigious John and Rebecca Moores Professor in 1988, and in 2001 was appointed to the Ross M. Lence Distinguished University Chair, made possible through the contributions of hundreds of his former students.

Lence passed away in 2006.

For more information about Lence, visit a WikiPedia page about him.

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