Morningside College has awarded its 2017 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. David Elder, associate professor of writing and rhetoric; Dr. Brian McFarland, associate professor of chemistry; and Dr. Christopher Spicer, associate professor of mathematics.

Morningside College has awarded its 2017 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. David Elder, associate professor of writing and rhetoric; Dr. Brian McFarland, associate professor of chemistry; and Dr. Christopher Spicer, associate professor of mathematics.

Morningside President John Reynders presented the awards during the annual faculty banquet held Nov. 11 at the Sioux City Country Club. The recipients, selected from a field of applicants by a panel of three outside evaluators, will each receive a $10,000 honorarium and $2,000 to use for faculty development.

Morningside alumni Jim and Sharon Walker of Wayzata, Minn., established the Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards in 2003.

Criteria for selection include teaching excellence, effective advising, scholarship and service to Morningside College. The awards are based upon the accomplishments and activities of a faculty member during the previous academic year.

Elder started teaching at Morningside in 2010. He has a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern College and a doctoral degree from Texas Christian University.

McFarland joined the Morningside faculty in 2013. He received a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi College and a doctoral degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Spicer has been teaching at Morningside since 2009. He received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Mercy College and a doctorate from North Dakota State University.

Evaluators for the 2017 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards were Dr. James Martin, professor of music, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa; Dr. Patrick Mathews, professor of biology and director of zoo science, Friends University, Wichita, Kan.; and Dr. Paula Schmidt, chair and associate professor of education, Clarke University, Dubuque, Iowa.