IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 has announced its 2026-27 Faculty of the Year Award honorees, recognizing one faculty member from each of the Conference’s 16 member institutions for excellence in innovation and research. The Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award also provides an opportunity to showcase the breadth of research breakthroughs and educational opportunities available to students at Big 12 campuses, while helping attract future students.

"The Big 12 continues to shine on and off the field and that’s evidenced in the diversity of academic offerings and achievements of our faculty across the Conference,” said Jenn Hunter, JD, Big 12 Conference Chief Impact Officer. “Their work has a profound impact on both their campuses and society as a whole. We’re proud that these outstanding educators call the Big 12 home."

This year’s recipients include:

Arizona, Rebecca Tsosie: Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law

• Made lasting contributions in the fields of Federal Indian Law, legal education and advocacy, and has consistently shown dedication to supporting and mentoring Native law students
• Recognized as the recipient of the Lawrence R. Baca Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Federal Indian Law.

Arizona State, Dr. Victoria Jackson: Associate Clinical Professor of History and is the Co-Director of ASU’s Great Game Lab

• Research has influenced national conversations on college athletics and Olympic and Paralympic sports across academia, government industry and the public.
• Created innovative academic programs, developed pioneering courses on sports history, and helped establish the university as a national leader in the interdisciplinary study of sport.

Baylor, Dr. Randall Bradley: Ben H. Williams Professor of Music in the School of Music and Director of the Church Music Program and the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies

• Secured two grant awards from the Lilly Endowment, one supporting Baylor’s Building Bridges to the Future project that helped church congregations design, test and implement new models for nurturing the religious lives of middle and high school youth.

BYU, Dr. Mike Drake: Associate Dean in the Marriott School of Business at BYU

• Prolific scholar highly regarded by his peers, an award-winning instructor who captivates the minds of his students, and a generous colleague and leader in his administrative duties.

UCF, Dr. Mubarak Shah: Trustee Chair Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director of the Center for Research in Computer Vision

• Built a globally recognized program in computer vision and artificial intelligence, positioning the university among the top-ranked institutions in the field.
• His research has garnered over 117,000 citations and has an h-index of 150, demonstrating tangible societal impact through real-world applications in crowd analysis, security and health care through his work.

Cincinnati, Dr. Christy Holland: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases; Director, Image-Guided Ultrasound Therapeutics Laboratories; Hanna Endowed Chair of Cardiology - Interim Director, Center for Cardiovascular Research

• An internationally recognized leader in biomedical ultrasound, who has authored more than 150 publications and focuses on innovative approaches to cardiovascular treatment.  

Colorado, Dr. Lee Niswander: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Director of the Niswander Lab

• Leading research using mouse models of embryonic development to better understand fundamental developmental processes, the causes of major human birth defects and potential therapeutic approaches.
• Her work has identified key molecular mechanisms that govern the development of the central and peripheral nervous systems.  

Houston, Dr. Venkat Selvamanickam: M.D. Anderson Chair Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

• Established an internationally acclaimed research program recognized for groundbreaking advances in superconductor science and manufacturing since joining UH in 2008.
• Founded and directs the Advanced Manufacturing Institute and the Applied Research Hub of the Texas Center for Superconductivity.

Iowa State, Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore: Interim Associate Vice President for Research; Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agricultural and Life Sciences, Natural Resource Ecology and Management

• Co-founded the STRIPS project, which pioneered the prairie strips conservation practice that is now in use on more than 115,000 acres across 14 states and was written into the 2018 Farm Bill as an eligible conservation practice under the Conservation Reserve Program.
• Research sits at the intersection of environmental, food, and bio-renewable systems.

Kansas, Dr. John Kelly: Professor – Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

• An international leader in genetics research, working to answer some of the most fundamental questions of how organisms adapt to their environments.
•  Research has resolved long-standing questions about the origin and nature of the genetic variation found in natural populations, how complex traits are encoded in the genome and how the underlying genetic control of those traits impacts their evolution.

Kansas State, Dr. Carl Ade, Kansas State: Associate Professor and the Director of the Clinical Integrative Physiology Lab and the Clinical Research Coordination Center at Kansas State.

• Focuses on the integrative physiological processes in aerospace medicine, cardiology, and cardio-oncology that have led to funding and national collaborations with NASA and NIH partnerships.

Oklahoma State, Dr. Sam Fuhelndorf: Regents Professor - Natural Resource Ecology & Management

• Internationally recognized as one of the leading scholars in rangeland ecology and sustainable land management. His pioneering work on Pyric Herbivory has been adopted on millions of hectares worldwide.
• Has published more than 290 peer-reviewed articles and earned more than 21,000 citations, ranking him among the top five most published and most-cited scientists globally in rangeland ecology.

TCU, Dr. Morgan Swink: Eunice and James L. West Chair in Supply Chain Management, Executive Director for the Center for Supply Chain Innovation

• World-renowned scholar who has authored more than 100 articles, editorials and book chapters in the fields of operations and supply chain management.
• Serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Operations Management, one of the premier journals in the field.

Texas Tech, Dr. Christopher Smith: Professor of Musicology and founding director of the Vernacular Music Center

• Teaches courses in American, vernacular, 20^th-Century music and directs the Tech Folk Orchestra.
• Research interests are in American and African-American Music, 20^th-Century Music, oral-tradition music and dance idioms, improvisation, music and politics, and performance practice, which has earned multiple grants throughout his career.

Utah, Dr. William Holland: Associate Professor - Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology

• An internationally recognized leader in metabolic disease research who has transformed understanding of diabetes and cardiometabolic disease.
• Lab Principal Investigator of the Haumana ‘O Pasifika program, which has created transformative research, mentoring, and clinical training opportunities focused on populations disproportionately affected by diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiometabolic disorders, while building a sustainable pipeline of future scientists and health professionals equipped to address critical health disparities in Pacific Islander communities.

West Virginia: Dr. Dana Voelker: Professor of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, Director of the School of Sport Sciences

• Research aims to inform the psychosocial well-being and performance of youth in sport, which includes understanding how sport environments positively and negatively affect quality youth sport experiences, particularly for girls and women.
• Has examined pedagogical innovations involving global collaboration and active learning to support higher education curricula.

 

Institution	Faculty Member	Discipline
Arizona	Rebecca Tsosie	Law
Arizona State	Dr. Victoria Jackson	History
Baylor	Dr. Randall Bradley	Church Music
BYU	Dr. Mike Drake	Accounting
UCF	Dr. Mubarak Shah	Computer Science
Cincinnati	Dr. Christy Holland	Medicine and Biomedical Engineering
Colorado	Dr. Lee Miswander	Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology
Houston	Dr. Venkat Selvamanickam	Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Iowa State	Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore	Natural Resource Ecology and Management
Kansas	Dr. John Kelly	Ecology and Evolutionary Biology/Genetics
Kansas State	Dr. Carl Ade	Clinical Integrated Psychology
Oklahoma State	Dr. Sam Fuhelndorf	Natural Resource Ecology & Management
TCU	Dr. Morgan Swink	Information Systems & Supply Chain Management
Texas Tech	Dr. Christopher Smith	Musicology
Utah	Dr. William Holland	Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
West Virginia	Dr. Dana Voelker	Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology