Two professors receive AC’s prestigious Mead Faculty Excellence Award

A pair of Amarillo College professors whose dedication to student success is widely acknowledged by students and faculty alike have been named recipients of the prestigious 2021-2022 John F. Mead Faculty Excellence Award.

Dr. Bruce Lin, assistant professor of music, and Dr. Asanga Ranasinghe, assistant professor of chemistry, received AC’s foremost faculty accolade during commencement exercises on May 13 at Hodgetown Stadium.

The Award is given annually to outstanding members of the faculty who have had a particularly positive impact on students, the College, and the community.

It is named after a remarkable former AC president, whose unique contributions included leading the College over an 11-year span during the challenging 1930s and 40s, serving in the armed forces during World War II, and returning to AC in the 1960s to teach full time.

“There is no doubt that both of these outstanding individuals deserve the John F. Mead Faculty Excellence Award, our highest faculty recognition,” Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, AC president, said. “Their commitment to scholarship, student success, and community service is absolute and inspiring to the entire College community.”

Lin and Ranasinghe were selected for the awards based on multiple nominations solicited by the Mead Award committee from students, faculty and staff.

Lin, director of piano at AC, was glowingly characterized by one student nominator as “the most patient, gifted, first-rate educator I have ever known.”

Lin is credited with spearheading the highly successful 2021-2022 Art Force Piano Series at AC , in which he performed on multiple occasions, and with infusing new life into AC’s Music Maker’s Club, which under his tutelage visits and performs for area senior citizens.

“He genuinely cares about his students and wants to get to know who they are as people,” another nominator said of Lin. “He pours his heart and soul into his performances, work, and relationships.”

Ranasinghe was described by one nominator as “always looking for ways to enhance the classroom experience, improve our community, and prepare our future workforce.” Someone else hailed him as “an unbelievable asset to Amarillo College.”

Ranasinghe initiated the STEM Research Club, to which AC students have flocked, and his civic engagement regularly finds him hosting students from St. Andrews Elementary School, with whom he shares the wonders of chemistry and the scientific method.

To ensure that his students fully comprehend his lectures – that they are not overly technical – Ranasinghe has attended teaching-development forums presented by AC’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

“His focus has always been to make our students his top priority,” a colleague’s nomination stated.

He is also a youth soccer coach and serves on the Board of Directors at the Turn Center, a provider of therapy for kids with special needs.