Finance professor Craig Tapley was recognized for his pioneering work with electronic platform courses to create a richer learning environment for undergraduate students in core classes. For his achievement, Tapley received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Online Teaching from R1edu, an association composed of 34 American research universities that work together to provide access to distance learning classes and reference materials.

With UF's adoption of WebCT VISTA course management software, Tapley's class was restructured to support collaborative learning. It was reorganized into 10 content modules, each providing a greater variety of learning activities to engage students. In addition to lectures, an "e-pack" provided video clips, chapter outlines and problem sets.

Quizzes, practice tests and a discussion board were also available online. A team of 28 teaching assistants was assembled to oversee groups of 30 to 35 students in online discussions. Often, students were required to read attached articles and then answer questions or provide comments related to the reading. Teaching assistants assigned students grades based on their postings.

DiMatteo Named First Winner of August Master Teacher Award

Professor Larry DiMatteo, Huber Hurst Professor of Contract Law and Legal Studies, is the first winner of the Ray August Master Teacher of International Business Law Award. Sponsored by the Academy of Legal Studies (ALSB), it is based upon criteria such as research productivity, teaching evaluations, and use of pedagogical exercises in class. The ALSB is the academic association of law professors teaching in business schools, with approximately 1,000 members from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. The award was presented on August 6, 2005 at the Academy's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Professor DiMatteo’s research focuses on the law of international business transactions, along with issues relating to contract law and theory. He has published research in the Yale Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal and Penn State Law Review, among others, and is the author of five books. He will serve as Editor-in-Chief for American Business Law Journal beginning in January, 2006. Larry DiMatteo has also served as president of the International Law Section of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (2000–2001). Professor DiMatteo received his J.D. from Cornell Law School (1982) and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2002.

McGill Wins ATA Manuscript Award

Gary McGill, PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor in Accounting, is the recipient of the 2004-2005 Outstanding Manuscript

Award from the American Taxation Association. The award was presented for a paper co-authored by Professor McGill titled “Lost in Translation: Detecting Tax Shelter Activity in Financial Statements,” published in the National Tax Journal. The announcement was made at the ATA luncheon at the American Taxation Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August.

Professor McGill teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the accounting curriculum and is the Graduate Coordinator for the doctoral program in Accounting. McGill, a Certified Public Accountant, served as the Price Waterhouse Visiting Tax Research Professor (New York National Office) for 1994-1995, and previously worked in tax consulting for Ernst & Whinney.

His research interests include Income Taxation, International, Real Estate and he has served as Associate Editor

of the Journal of Accounting Literature, as well as on Editorial Boards for Advances in Taxation and The Journal of the American Taxation Association.

Professor McGill’s Honors for teaching and research are many, including Fisher School of Accounting Undergraduate Teacher of the Year and, most recently, the J. Michael Cook Award for Excellence in Teaching.

DIS Department Heads POMS Conference

Asoo Vakharia, Beall Professor in Supply Chain Management, served as Program Chair for POM-2005, the sixteenth annual conference of the Production and Operations Management Society, held in Chicago in May. Professor Vakharia is chair of the Department of Decision & Information Sciences and his research interests include: coordinating decisions at multiple stages in supply chains; production/distribution planning; multi-product pricing and stocking decisions; and call center operations. Vakharia teaches Operations Management and Supply Chain Management to MBA students. In addition, three Warrington faculty, Haldun Aytug, Janice Carrillo, and Anand Paul, were track chairs for the meeting. The Warrington College of Business also co-sponsored meeting activities at the conference themed “Operations Management Frontiers: Winds of Change” in recognition of the significant changes occurring in the environment in which companies currently operate.