Nikolai receives top teaching award

Loren Nikolai

Loren Nikolai, professor of accounting at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is the 1999 winner of the UM System's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Nikolai, who has taught accountancy at the University of Missouri-Columbia since 1976, has received numerous campus awards for teaching, including a Kemper Fellowship. He was the principal designer of the School of Accountancy's undergraduate program, which has become a model for many other universities.

The award honors longterm achievement in teaching at the UM System. It carries a $15,000 stipend and is given to a faculty member who has served his or her campus for at least 10 years. Each UM campus nominates a candidate, and a systemwide committee considers teaching evaluations, peer reviews, course syllabi and other evidence of outstanding and innovative teaching in selecting the winner.

Recommendations from former students are a key factor in the selection process. One former student said that Nikolai "brought not only his organizational skills as an instructor to the classroom, he brought a high level of enthusiasm, motivation and professionalism, evident in his desire to excel as a teacher and in developing his students."

Another former student wrote, "Through his excellent classroom instruction, his substantial contributions to accounting education, and his genuine concern for students, I believe that Professor Nikolai has clearly earned this honor."

Nikolai earned a bachelor's degree in management (1966) and a master's degree in marketing (1967) from St. Cloud State University. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1973. He was an assistant professor of accounting at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill before joining the MU faculty in 1976.

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