Article
SHERMAN, TEXAS—Each year at the Austin College Honors Convocation, the Homer P. Rainey Award is presented to a faculty or staff member on behalf of the College’s Board of Trustees to recognize outstanding achievement and service to the College. The 2013 award was presented to Dr. Michael Imhoff, vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the faculty, who will retire at the end of the spring term after 43 years of service to the College.
Announcing the award, Tim Millerick, vice president for Student Affairs, said that Mike brought his combination of administrative skill, calm demeanor, and personal integrity to his current position. “The benefit to the College was enormous and his commitment to liberal arts education is deep,” Millerick said. “As a faculty member in the sciences, he put his time where his beliefs were and made major contributions to the overall academic program of the College. He has what is regarded as the single most important intellectual quality: curiosity. This led him to climb over the walls of his discipline and made him an outstanding teacher and administrator.”
Mike joined the Austin College community in 1970 as a member of the chemistry faculty. In 1995, he was named the Rupert B. Lowe Chair in Chemistry and in 1997, received the College’s Excellence in Teaching Award. His career in the classroom, which included courses in general chemistry and organic chemistry, involved research opportunities for many students. During his classroom teaching career, he served as department chair and dean of the Sciences, as well as the first director of the Austin College Center for Environmental Studies. He moved into his current administrative position in 2000 after an interim term in the role.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives.
Gallery