By Matt Golosinski

Tim Calkins has earned the coveted Lawrence G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, rising above an academic field crowded with talent, including four other finalists. Students in the Kellogg School's Full- and Part-Time MBA Programs bestowed the honor on the marketing professor for his dynamic teaching style and the ability to convey his subject in rich detail.

"Teaching is a remarkable challenge," said Calkins.  "One of the things that makes it so hard, and so fun, is that each day is different. Students ask different questions, the case discussions progress in distinct ways and the mood of the class changes. As a result, each class session has a unique flavor and is rarely predictable."

A clinical associate professor who is co-editor of Kellogg on Branding, Calkins joined Kellogg in 1998. Since then, he has leveraged his practical experience, bringing insights into the classroom from his corporate consultation work. He has created several teaching cases and spearheads the Kellogg Super Bowl Advertising Review, an assessment of marketing effectiveness that takes place during the annual U.S. football event.

The Lavengood Award, instituted in 1976 and voted on by graduating members of the Full-Time and Part-Time MBA Programs, is the highest teaching award that students can bestow on a Kellogg School faculty member. In 1994, the award was named in honor of Professor Emeritus L.G. Lavengood, who retired that year after more than 40 years of research and teaching on the Kellogg faculty.

Other finalists for this year's award included David Besanko, the Alvin J. Huss Distinguished Professor of Management and Strategy (who earned the Alumni Professor of the Year Award at Reunion 2006); Julie Hennessy, clinical associate professor of marketing; Benjamin F. Jones, assistant professor of management and strategy; and Sergio Rebelo, the Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of Finance.

Rebelo was awarded Top Professor honors from students in the Executive MBA Program this year. Both 2006 graduating classes, EMP-62 and 63, chose the finance scholar as their winner for the electives category. Top professor honors for core courses went to Michael Fishman, the Norman Strunk Distinguished Professor of Financial Institutions, and also Lakshman Krishnamurthi, the A. Montgomery Ward Professor of Marketing. Fishman was selected by members of EMP-62; Krishnamurthi by EMP-63.

Kellogg School Dean Dipak C. Jain formally announced the award winners on June 3 during Oh Be Joyful, the school's annual ceremony to acknowledge faculty and staff accomplishments from the past year.

"This recognition indicates how effective our professors are at making complex subjects understandable, and also in bridging theory and practice by introducing frameworks that are then applied by those seeking real competitive advantage," said Dean Jain.