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JOINING THE RANKS
Inspiration with class David Umphress, an associate professor of engineering, knows the importance of software to the future engineers in his Auburn classroom. But they’re not just engineering hopefuls to Umphress. First, they’re people. By the second week of class, he knows them all by name. “I stand at the door at the beginning of class,” he says. “I get there a little bit early and I say hello to each one as they walk in. It helps me put a face to a name and it helps them understand that I know who they are.” That personal touch contributed to Umphress being named a winner of Auburn University’s 2013 Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university’s highest honor for teaching. The other Leischuck award went to Casey Cegielski of the Harbert College of Business. Umphress said he enjoys learning and sharing his knowledge with students. “To be able to
share [knowledge] with someone else and to see light bulbs go off in other people’s heads, that’s what keeps me going.” Since joining the Auburn faculty in 1999, Umphress has been named Outstanding Instructor five times by the students in his department. He also received the William Walker Teaching Award by the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering for teaching excellence in 2008. (Pictured above are, L-R, Timothy Boosinger, AU provost and vice president for academic affairs; Cegielski; Umphress; and teaching award benefactor Gerald Leischuck.) Umphress believes the Leischuck Award demonstrates Auburn University’s recognition that teaching is valued and that what goes on in the classroom is the most important thing done at the university. “The foundation of a university is the students,” Umphress said. “I really want them to learn something and they can’t learn something if it’s dull material or if I’m
not excited about it. I want them to understand the excitement. I feel like if I have a sufficient amount of kinetic excitement that it’ll rub off on them.” Umphress’ expertise doesn’t end at the classroom. He also diagnoses bad software and suggests innovative ways to fix it. “My primary focus in teaching and research is in defining ways to build software that exceeds expectations in terms of function, cost and quality,” he said. For 35 years, Umphress has worked in areas including academic, military and industrial software and systems engineering. His areas of expertise include software engineering, systems engineering, software process, software vulnerability analysis and mobile device development. Umphress received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Angelo State University and then went on to get his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from Texas A&M University. — Jourdan Cooper
Online graduate programs in Auburn University’s College of Education, Raymond J. Harbert College of Business and Samuel Ginn College of Engineering are ranked among the top programs nationally in the recently released U.S. News and World Report 2014 Best Online Education Programs. Auburn’s College of Education ranked sixth among online graduate education programs. “We’re delighted that U.S. News & World Report has recognized the excellence of our students, as well as our faculty’s commitment to providing quality instruction and keeping pace with everchanging technological tools,” said Betty Lou Whitford, dean of the College of Education and the Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor. “We pride ourselves on bringing out the best in our students, whether they happen to join us on campus or online. Those who choose the latter option due to family or career obligations will find that they will be engaged, challenged and well prepared by our faculty.” The Raymond J. Harbert College of Business ranked 12th among online graduate business programs. The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering ranked 29th among online graduate engineering programs. The graduate computer information technology program, housed in Computer Science and Software Engineering, ranked 14th among online graduate computer information technology programs. U.S. News established rankings for each online master’s degree program in education, engineering, business, nursing and computer information technology.
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