Mentoring Excellence

UCF recognized two select faculty members on March 31, 2015, that have shown great dedication and guidance in the mentorship of their doctoral students for the Award for Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Doctoral Students in the following disciplines Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Business, Fine Arts and Health Sciences and Engineering, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences. 

The university recognized Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Aty and Dr. Rosemarye Taylor for this award. 

Dr. Abdel-Aty is the department chair and a professor of civil, environmental and construction engineering. As a leading traffic safety expert both nationally and internationally, he shares his passion to reduce traffic crashes and save lives from traffic collisions with his students.

Despite a busy schedule as both a professor and department chair, he inspires his students to develop innovative research ideas. His student research groups have a large number of papers accepted at highly competitive conferences and the strong presence of his students at national and international levels helps successfully promote UCF as a center of excellence in the area of transportation safety.

Dr. Abdel-Aty has supervised more than 50 Master’s and PhD students, served on 17 completed PhD committees at UCF as well as nine PhD committees at universities around the world. He currently supervises 10 PhD students.

Dr. Abdel-Aty’s commitment to his students is clear; as he believes their interests are his top priority and should be considered before his own.  As he states, “I always tell my students that when they complete their research and write a dissertation that they can be proud of, that I personally will be responsible in helping them find the job that they want. I always convey to them, truly and with sincerity, that I want them to be better than me in their research and their professional career.”

Dr. Rosemary Taylor is interim Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs in the School of Teaching, Learning and Leadership and Professor of Educational Leadership. She is seen by her students as a supporter, motivator, and someone who cannot only see the big picture, but also help them successfully navigate it. She consistently models excellence and is a source of inspiration to her students.

Since 2000, Dr. Taylor has chaired more than 50 doctoral dissertation committees, many of whom are administrators or faculty in higher education and leaders in schools or in school organizations.

Because a majority of the graduates in the EdD in Educational Leadership—Executive Track are professionals in schools, school districts, and related organizations, Dr. Taylor believes it is important to impart strategies to support their success as leaders. As students conduct their research, Dr. Taylor encourages them to present their findings in policy arenas, such as the Florida Department of Education, and to other executive leaders so they may have immediate impact on decision making, policy, and/or practice outcomes.

As one of Dr. Taylor’s students puts it, “She made it clear that if you state it, back it up with research. There is no ‘I think’ in Dr. Taylor’s class.  All Dr. Taylor’s students are researchers and possess valuable input to the conversation regardless of the day job.”

The following faculty were nominated in the following categories by their graduated doctoral students.

Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Business, Fine Arts and Health Sciences Nominees 

• Dr. Haitham Al-Deek – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Dr. Ronald DeMara – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Weiwei Deng – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Peter Kincaid – College of Graduate Studies
• Timothe Kotnour – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Jennifer Pazour – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Luis Rabelo – College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Alexandru Tamasan – College of Sciences  

Engineering, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences 

• Paul Dombrowski – College of Arts and Humanities
• T. Rudy McDaniel– College of Arts and Humanities
• Barbara Murray – College of Education and Human Performance
• J. Blake Scott– College of Arts and Humanities
• Mark E. Young – College of Education and Human Performance