Sandy Kavanaugh, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, was honored with the 2023-2024 "Rose B. & Edgar B. McReynolds Faculty Excellence Award," given each year to one full-time HIU faculty member who exemplifies teaching-learning excellence in the undergraduate classroom. Presented during the Honors Convocation Chapel each Spring, this award includes a plaque for the recipient to keep, the inscription of their name on a perpetual plaque which displays the names of each recipient year by year, and a generous cash award. Nominations were sought from faculty and students and, based on those nominations, a final choice was made by the prescribed selection committee. 

Professor Kavanaugh was commended by students and peers for careful class preparation and thoughtful teaching strategies geared to the specific students in each class, and for creatively engaging students in their own learning.

"She always finds interesting and effective ways to overcome student anxiety, explain course material well, and build student confidence in their own ability to learn difficult material, grow, and achieve success," one student remarked. "She makes math fun and genuinely wants her students to improve their math skills and confidence." Another student said, "Professor Kavanaugh actively involves her students in the classroom and help them relate what they are learning to practical applications."

Dr. Paul McReynolds was beloved by several generations of students who learned New Testament from him at Pacific Christian College from the 1960s to the 1990s. Dr. McReynolds was famous for his patient, gracious teaching in Biblical Studies classes and his published Greek/English Interlinear New Testament, with which many of you have become familiar. He was also deeply committed to the teaching and learning process. He was commonly known to his students simply as “Dr. Paul.”

When “Dr. Paul” retired, he funded a Faculty Excellence Award in the names of his parents, Rose B. and Edgar B. McReynolds.