Faculty Appointments & Recognition

At Leeds, we proudly celebrate the accomplishments of our distinguished faculty through a variety of honors and appointments. This page highlights the breadth of faculty recognition across several categories, including Frascona Teaching Excellence Award, Endowed Chairs, Professorships, Fellowships and Faculty Scholars. Each section showcases individuals whose research, teaching and service exemplify the highest standards of academic excellence. Leeds' named awards represent the generous donors who make this recognition possible.

Recent Honors & Highlights

Updated September 24, 2026

Academic Leadership

Tony Kong was elected to be a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), joining a prestigious group of psychologists who have demonstrated extraordinary and distinctive contributions to the field. This spring, Kong also received a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, which will take him to Ireland in 2027 for research on trust and human-centered workplaces.
Leeds emeritus faculty member Fred Glover was ranked #30 worldwide and #22 in the United States in Research.com’s 2026 Best Mathematics Scientists list, recognizing his contributions to operations research, optimization and computational mathematics.
John Ploumitsakos received an AI Sprint Grant: AI for Teaching & Learning for his proposal "AI-Powered Sales Cycle Simulation for Professional Selling." The grant is focused on improving course outcomes using innovative teaching practices that leverage AI to enhance student learning.
Kai Larsen received the 2026 CU System AI Recognition Award: AI for Scholarly & Creative Work, which honors faculty members who use AI in innovative ways to advance their scholarly endeavors to achieve impactful results.

Publishing Impact

Christophe Spaenjers will join the editorial team of Real Estate Economics as a non-managing editor beginning in January 2027.
Tony Tong currently serves as president of the Strategy Science Section of INFORMS, the international association for professionals in operations research, analytics, management science, economics, behavioral science, statistics, artificial intelligence, data science, applied mathematics and other relevant fields.
Sentao Miao received the 2026 Chelliah Sriskandarajah Early Career Research Accomplishments Award from POMS, the leading professional society in the field of production and operations management.
Huanan Zhang received the Best Senior Editor Award (2025) for Production and Operations Management Journal.

Fall 2026 Faculty Recognition at Leeds

Finance Division Public Lecturer Award—Andrea Buffa
Gillespie Faculty Award—Jamie Cheston
Burt Kolb Teaching Fellowship—Yuchen Luo
Melvin Roberts Teaching Award—David Gross
2026 Excellence in Research Award—Emily Gallagher
2026 Rising Star Research Award—Quentin Andre and Ethan Poskanzer
2026 Research Impact Award—Sarah Zechman
2026 Shaoshu Zhou Endowed Research Paper Award—Ethan Poskanzer
2026 Kahle Family Research Award—Michael Gropper
2026 Dean’s Teaching Award:

Teaching Excellence Awards

Frascona Teaching Excellence Award
David B. Balkin and Rosalind and Chester Barnow Endowed Innovative Teaching Award

Frascona Teaching Excellence Award

This annual award presented to one member of Leeds’ award-winning faculty was established by the Falkenberg family to honor Joseph L. Frascona, “who, as both inspired teacher and mentor, encouraged their intellectual development and created a profound, lasting impact on their lives.”

Bob and Martha Falkenberg are strong proponents of outstanding business education and have demonstrated their support of both through commitments to the building fund and Frascona Teaching Excellence Award. As a result of their deep appreciation for Joseph Frascona’s dynamic teaching, Bob, his father Robert L. Falkenberg (BS’51), and sister, Nancy Tuck (Fin’82), established the Frascona Teaching Excellence Award in 1991 in the hopes that future generations of teachers at Leeds would be encouraged to inspire their students as Professor Frascona inspired them.

Congratulations to the 2026 Winner

Alixandra Barasch
Andrea and Michael Leeds Faculty Fellow • Associate Professor • Marketing PhD Program Director

Previous Winners

2020s
2026: Alixandra Barasch
2025: Levente Szentkiralyi
2024: Henry Laurion
2023: David Drake
2022: Curtis Sears
2021: Harry Starn
2020: Shaun Davies

2010s
2019: Elizabeth Stapp
2018: Emily Edwards
2017: Daniel Brown
2016: Erick Mueller
2015: Kevin McMahon
2014: Laura Kornish
2013: Tracy Jennings
2012: Wayne Boss
2011: James Marlatt
2010: Susan Morley

2000s
2009: Donna Sockell
2008: Robert Donchez
2007: David Frederick
2006: Cathleen Burns
2005: Kai Larsen
2004: Nancy Stec-Helstad
2003: Jay Ballantine
2002: Sanjai Bhagat
2001: Ray MacFee
2000: Ed Gac

1990s
1999: Jeff Luftig
1998: Ramiro Montealegre
1997: Ray MacFee
1996: David Monarchi
1995: Jim Brancheau
1994: Nancy Ridgway
1993: Patrick Long
1992: Jakki Mohr

David B. Balkin and Rosalind and Chester Barnow Endowed Innovative Teaching Award

The David B. Balkin and Rosalind and Chester Barnow Endowed Innovative Teaching Award was established to encourage and reward faculty who develop and implement innovative teaching practices. As stated by the donors, it honors “Leeds faculty who produce revelatory and useful teaching knowledge in a business school environment.”