Sheng Yang, Associate Professor of Economics and Management at Gustavus Adolphus College, received the 2013 Swenson-Bunn Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence at the College’s Honors Day convocation on Saturday, May 4. The award, nominated by students and selected by a vote of the Student Senate, has been presented annually since 1990.
Yang joined the Gustavus faculty in 2011 after serving as an economics and finance professor at Black Hills State University for seven years. At Gustavus, he teaches courses such as Business Finance, Investments, Managerial Finance, International Trade and Finance, and Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
Students who nominated Yang showered him with compliments, including statements about how he makes himself available to students.
“Professor Yang is not only readily available, but eager to assist his students,” one student wrote. “His office door is seemingly always open and he is always willing to help, no matter how much time a problem will take to solve.” Another student agreed saying “Professor Yang bends over backwards to teach and help students in and out of the classroom. Outside of class he is involved with the Investment Club, many other committees, and is constantly busy in his office meeting with students. He is very welcoming outside of class and does not hesitate to drop his work to help a student.”
Several students also mentioned how Yang’s teaching style is beneficial to his students.
“The material covered by Professor Yang is by no means basic or easily comprehendible, yet his engaging teaching style nearly forces his students to keep up with the current material,” wrote one student. “Not only does his style promote near total class participation, but his enthusiasm of any all subject matters is unparalleled.”
“One of Professor Yang’s strengths is his ability to teach life lessons on top of the course material,” wrote another student. “He is very good at relating our learned material to real world careers, and it is very inspiring as a student to sit in his classes. His classes are by far the most challenging I’ve had, but they are also my favorite.”
Yang earned his bachelor’s degree from Baker University, his master’s degree from Texas A&M, and his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Swenson-Bunn Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence honors the memory of two Gustavus students and members of the Student Senate, Greg Swenson and Holly Bunn, who were killed in a car accident in 1989.
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