Professors Peter Dominick and Majeed Simaan Receive University Faculty Excellence Awards
Two School of Business professors were recently recognized by the university for their outstanding work and commitment to excellence. Dr. Peter Dominick, a professor in the MBA and MBA Executive Programs received the Henry Morton distinguished teaching professor award. Dr. Majeed Simaan, an assistant professor of finance and financial engineering received the award for excellence in undergraduate advising and mentoring.
Dr. Dominick, who received his Ph.D. in applied psychology from Stevens, has been instrumental in designing and delivering innovative business courses across multiple graduate and undergraduate programs. He has also developed an executive educational program which has trained thousands of industry professionals around the globe at NASA, IBM, BAE, the US Department of Defense and ExxonMobil.
During an award ceremony held on May 23, 2022 at the newly opened University Center Complex, Gregory Prastacos, dean of the School of Business, said that Dr. Dominick "brings to his teaching a commitment to excellence, continuous innovation, and an amazing amount of empathy. "That combination has enabled him to have profound and positive impacts on students across all levels of learning, but also to faculty. His teaching evaluations have been consistently stellar, and the student responses have been amazing."
At the start of the pandemic, Dr. Dominick co-chaired a School of Business task force focused on helping faculty develop their online teaching effectiveness. He also helped the School of Business to identify and provide a mindfulness application, Headspace, to all students, faculty, and staff within the school and has provided guidance on how faculty might incorporate mindfulness into their courses.
Dr. Majeed Simaan (center) with student Leonid Maksymenko and Dr. David Zeng, vice provost for academic innovation and faculty affairs
During the award ceremony, Dr. Majeed Simaan was introduced by one of his students, Leonid Maksymenko, who recently graduated with a BS in quantitative finance and is now an intern at New York Life Insurance company. "In the classroom, Professor Simaan strives to engage every student in discussions, even in classes that may traditionally be taught in a lecture style," said Makysymenko. "He keeps topics relevant and always connects his lectures with the modern world. His lecture styles and his assignments make it easy for students to follow along and succeed even in his challenging courses. Outside of the classroom, Professor Simaan’s door is always open to students. He is attentive, responsive, and thorough in his relationship with students, all qualities that make him an excellent advisor. Professor Simaan strives to set extra time aside specifically for his undergraduate students and is incredibly responsive to all forms of communication. He is someone who always has a smile on his face when talking to students and who not only cares about us on an academic level, but on a personal level as well. Time and time again, Professor Simaan has clearly shown that he always has the highest interest of his students at the forefront of his mind."
Congratulations to Dr. Simaan and Dr. Dominick for receiving their well-deserved awards and for their tremendous contributions to the Stevens community!