Pair of Spears Business faculty honored with Greiner Excellence teaching awards

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Spears School of Business faculty members Rachel Cox and Dr. Bryan Hammer are the recipients of the Greiner Excellence in Teaching Award for 2021. The honor encourages and rewards teaching excellence in Spears Business.

Cox, an instructor of professional practice teaching accounting at OSU since 2017, received the undergraduate award while Hammer, assistant professor of management science and information systems at OSU since 2013, was presented the award for teaching graduate classes.

Cox graduated from OSU with both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting in 2012. After graduating, she passed the CPA exam and spent four years working as an auditor at Ernst & Young (EY) and a year and a half working as a CPA for BOK Financial in Tulsa before joining the OSU accounting faculty.

“Rachel consistently goes above and beyond for her students,” said Dr. Audrey Gramling, head of the School of Accounting. “She uses interactive and innovative teaching practices that result in student engagement, student satisfaction and effectiveness in achieving desired learning outcomes. I am very pleased that Rachel’s commitment to fostering the academic success of our students has been recognized with this award.”

Hammer graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University before earning a doctorate in business administration from the University of Arkansas. He was a visiting assistant professor at OSU for a year before joining the MSIS faculty as an assistant professor in 2014.

“Bryan does a great job in balancing rigor with technical relevance in his classes,” said Dr. Rick Wilson, head of the MSIS Department. “Most importantly, Dr. Hammer cares about each individual member of his class, and he will do whatever it takes to ensure student success. He has been tasked with leading difficult classes in data science programming and supply chain analytics, and he continues the MSIS Department’s long tradition in providing excellent classroom experiences.”

The Greiner Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes an outstanding undergraduate and graduate faculty member annually through nominations by Spears Business students and professors. It was established in 1987 by Ken and Leitner Greiner. Ken graduated with an OSU business degree in 1960, followed in 1961 by Leitner, who also earned a bachelor’s degree in business.

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