Anthony  T. “Terry” Cobb, associate professor in the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, has received the university's 2012 Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award.

Sponsored by the Diggs Endowed Professorship Fund and the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research, the Diggs Teaching Scholars Award was established in 1992 and is presented annually to three Virginia Tech faculty members to recognize exceptional contributions to the teaching program and learning environment. A cash award is given to each recipient and their academic department. Diggs Teaching Scholars are invited to lead the Diggs Roundtable – a series of presentations and a discussion of their innovative teaching – a year after receiving the award.

The award is supported by an endowed fund from an estate gift by the late Edward S. and Hattie Wilson Diggs. Edward Diggs was a 1914 graduate of Virginia Tech.

Cobb has been faculty member in the Department of Management since 1978. He has a record of teaching excellence that has long been recognized at both the undergraduate and doctoral levels.

He has received college’s Doctoral Teaching Award, the Warren L. Holtzman Outstanding Educator Award, and the Certificate of Teaching Excellence.

Cobb has developed a unique pedagogy of using self-managed student teams in his classes to address and solve complex projects. His textbook, Leading Project Teams: An Introduction to the Basics of Project Management and Project Team Leadership (2nd ed. Sage Press) is designed for instructors in professional programs to introduce their students to project management tools and techniques and then using those tools not only in their teams working on complex problems, but also to carry with them into their professions.

Students and alumni have supported Cobb’s many teaching awards, and their comments often tell of how their experiences in his self-managed teams have helped them later in their careers. The department has made the skill of developing and leading teams a central feature of its curriculum, and students in organizational behavior are taught how to develop and lead self-managed teams based on Cobb’s model.

“We find that our students then go on to use and refine those skills in the other courses in our curriculum,” said Anju Seth, R.B. Pamplin Professor of Management and department head.

Cobb received his bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge, a master’s degree from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine.

 

 

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