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Manoj Malhotra Wins Mungo Graduate Teaching Award


Dr. Manoj K. Malhotra, Jeff B. Bates Professor and chairman of the Management Science department, was named as the 2006 winner of the Michael J. Mungo Graduate Teaching Award on April 26. The campus-wide award, which carries with it a prize of $2,500, recognizes excellence in graduate teaching on the Columbia campus.  It is named after Michael J. Mungo, a 1950 USC graduate who is also a University trustee and a local real estate developer.

Malhotra is the second Moore School faculty member to win the Mungo Graduate Teaching Award. Dr. William T. "Ted" Moore, Berlinberg Professor of Finance, received the award in 2003.

The Mungo Graduate Teaching Award "is the gold standard for teaching at the University of South Carolina, and it reflects favorably both on Manoj and the Moore School,” said Joel A. Smith III, dean of the Moore School. “The competition for the prize has only intensified over the years, and that makes this an even more outstanding accomplishment."

Malhotra, who came to the Moore School in 1990 after earning his Ph.D. in operations management from The Ohio State University, has won numerous teaching awards.  He was voted an Outstanding Professor for four consecutive years (from 1997-2000) by Master of International Business Studies (MIBS) students and was again chosen by the International Master of Business Administration (IMBA) Class of 2005. He was voted the Most Outstanding Professor in the IMBA Vienna Program in 1998 and 2004.

Malhotra is also the recipient of the Alfred G. Smith, Jr. Teaching Excellence Award, and of the "Master Teacher" designation, which is the Moore School’s highest teaching honor. He has been listed in "Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers" on three different occasions.

Malhotra’s Management Science department has been ranked among the top 35 institutions worldwide as evidenced by publications in prestigious INFORMS- (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) related journals.  He serves as an associate editor of Decision Sciences and the Journal of Operations Management, and is a two-time recipient of the Stan Hardy Award -- in 2002 and 2006 — for the best paper published in the field of operations management.   

Malhotra earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur, India, and worked for a time as a materials manager and research engineer before earning his doctorate from Ohio State University.

USC Provost Mark Becker, upon the recommendation of a committee composed of faculty members and a student representative, made the final selection for the award, which is open to all full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members who teach graduate students at the University of South Carolina.

The winner must provide evidence that he or she provides "innovative instruction," "inspirational, reflective, and dedicated teaching," "exemplary advisement and mentoring," and "creative thesis and dissertation supervision." Students who wrote letters of recommendation for Malhotra say he has excelled in all of these dimensions.

"Dr. Malhotra has a way of intertwining life and career lessons into the lectures – almost like a preacher delivering a Sunday Sermon," said Elena Arecco Bridgmon, IMBA Class of 2006.  "One would never arrive to class unprepared because, unlike in many other classrooms, in Dr. Malhotra’s classroom, the lecture is interactive. This means you must be ready to contribute to the lecture."

Stephanie Melton, IMBA Class of 2006, called Malhotra an "excellent, knowledgeable, and energetic teacher. It is always a great experience, as a student, to recognize how much their professor enjoys the subject matter they are teaching, as well as the teaching itself.  I highly value this as a student, and this is quite apparent with Dr. Malhotra."

Jeremy C. Posvar, IMBA Class of 2006, lauded Malhotra for his "dedication to empower his students."  Posvar said that Malhotra gave the student-led teams in his courses "full control of the [supply chain class] projects and the client relationships, thereby providing his students with an excellent opportunity to apply classroom theory in a real-world setting within top-notch organizations," such as Milliken & Company.

And Phillip Herlein, IMBA Class of 2006, said that "as an educator myself for over five years, I have a keen understanding of what separates a good teacher from a great one….Dr. Malhotra’s style brings a refreshing level of candor, forward thinking and dynamism to the classroom that is captivating, inspiring, and ultimately translates into the goal of learning."

May 2006