Jindal Professor Honored with Outstanding Teaching Award

Dr. McClain Watson, director of communications programs at the University of Texas at Dallas – Naveen Jindal School of Management, was recently honored with the 2016 Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award (ROTA).

Watson was honored not just for his skill and success in teaching business, but also his educational outlook, which focuses on preparing students for life after college. Through classroom instruction and out-of-class mentorship, Watson aims to remind students that they will not be students forever and that other aspects of their life will matter more than test scores and GPAs.

“For me, teaching is about building imaginative bridges, so students can put themselves in situations where they can think through some of the everyday decisions that they’ll have to make, not as students, but as a professional struggling to make an impression or an entry-level employee trying to convince an employer to open a door for them professionally,” says Watson. “It’s primarily about skill development and attitude development.

Watson’s focus on preparing students for graduation is put into practice in his Advanced Business Communications class, where students create Professional Online Portfolios (POP) which can help give companies a better sense of their skills while also making them stand out in job searches. According to Watson, the POP project helps students understand how to better communicate about themselves and their accomplishments—without even being in the same room as a potential employer.

This is not the first teaching award Watson has received. Just last year, he was honored with a President’s Teaching Excellence Award. He is also involved with a number of campus organizations, such as TEDxUTD, the Student Media Operating Board and Alpha Lambda Mu.

regions: Dallas

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