Legal studies professor honored for teaching

BOWLING GREEN, O.—In recognition of her extraordinary commitment to teaching and scholarship, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees on June 22 conferred upon legal studies professor Dr. Sue Mota the title of Distinguished Teaching Professor.

The title is given to select members of the faculty who hold the rank of professor and whose extraordinary achievements as effective teachers over an extended period of time deserve special recognition.

Since joining the BGSU faculty in 1984, Mota has taught undergraduate students, full-time graduate students and working, part-time graduate students as well as executive graduate students.

“To effectively teach each of these groups, very different teaching styles must be employed,” according to Dr. Rodney Rogers, dean of the College of Business Administration. “Dr. Mota has consistently had great success teaching each of these groups. This is a testament to her outstanding teaching ability as well as her commitment to designing, preparing and delivering a course that meets the needs and expectations of her students.”

She is extremely focused on the quality and rigor of students' academic experience, Rogers said, and has been closely involved with curriculum design and reform within her department and in the college.

Dr. Brent Nicholson, a long-time colleague and current chair of the legal studies department, describes Mota as “innovative, current, adaptive and extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of the areas she teaches.

“She was among the first to incorporate technology into the classroom but has not let it override the need for personal, hands-on instruction. She has never lost sight of the fact that teaching is a person-to-person endeavor,” he said, adding that after 20 years, “her enthusiasm for teaching and her material is exemplary.”

Nicholson also noted that she has been an outstanding advisor to business pre-law students, staying current with the latest thinking and literature on the subject and helping them navigate the sometimes difficult path to law school.

Mota's commitment to her students has been recognized with several previous awards. She received the Faculty Excellence Award in 1985 and the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award in 2005, and has been nominated for the Master Teacher Award.

In 2006, she was presented the Distinguished Service Award by the athletic department. The business college also named her co-recipient of its Service Award in 2001.

Mota has published 26 articles over the last five years, part of a continuous publication record that extends back to 1985. She was the co-recipient of the Robert Patton Scholarly Achievement Award in 2004.

She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from BGSU in 1979 and 1980, respectively. She earned her law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1983.

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(Posted June 25, 2007)