Professor Joe Van Matre, Ph.D., is the recipient of the 2015 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. He will be honored during the annual Faculty Awards Convocation March 29.
Van Matre, a professor in the Collat School of Business Department of Management, Information Systems and Quantitative Methods department, has taught at UAB for 45 years; he’s the longest-serving professor on campus at this time.
“Many ask why, after 45 years, I still work. It’s not for the money,” Van Matre said. “I work because I love the academic life — teaching a useful subject and, for undergraduates, developing attributes such as critical thinking, responsibility, preparation, honesty and punctuality that will help them achieve success. The faculty, the campus and the continuous opportunities we have for intellectual growth are all dear to me.”
In his 45 years at UAB, Van Matre has taught 11 different courses at undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels, including five courses he conceptualized and developed. Van Matre has received numerous accolades and served on many boards and committees. In 1985 he endowed the UAB Van Matre Scholarship to honor of his parents.
The Ingalls/Alumni Award is presented annually to a full-time regular UAB faculty member who, throughout his or her career at UAB, has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching. To receive the Ingalls/Alumni Award, the faculty must be a former recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and have served UAB for 20 or more years as a full-time regular faculty member.
