Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award
About the Award
The Southern Economic Association (SEA) seeks to honor exemplary educators for their contributions to economics instruction. The contribution can be on a single campus or to the profession more broadly. The SEA is especially interested in identifying extraordinary talent in conveying economic concepts and in rewarding outstanding efforts that enhance teaching effectiveness such as:
- Innovative methods of instruction;
- Unusual courses that explore the boundaries of economics;
- Interdisciplinary instruction that links economics with other disciplines; and
- Research on how to effectively teach or evaluate economic learning.
All nominations must be approved and endorsed by the chair of the nominee’s economics department. Only one nomination may be submitted by a department each year. Nominations should come in the form of a letter that establishes why the faculty member deserves the award. Specific examples that illuminate why the award is warranted should be included in the letter, but supporting materials such as teaching evaluations are discouraged.
Nominees who were not selected in the previous year will be placed in the pool for this year’s award. However, the SEA encourages interested nominators to update their letters of nomination. Chairs from departments with unselected nominees from the previous year may choose to withdraw a previous nomination and submit a new one.
Call for Nominations
The 2025 Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award announcement and presentation will take place Sunday, November 23, 2025 at the Tampa Marriott Water Street in Tampa, FL during the SEA 95th Annual Meeting Presidential Luncheon.
The award includes an inscribed plaque, a cash prize of $500, complimentary conference registration, and up to three nights of lodging at the conference hotel for the meeting. Winners of the award are acknowledged in Southern Economic Journal®.
Inquiries and nominations may be addressed directly to the Chair of the 2025 Elzinga Award Committee:
Pia Orrenius
Chair, 2025 SEA Elzinga Award Committee
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
pia.orrenius@dal.frb.org
Please provide the nominee’s contact information and current CV with the nomination letter.
The deadline to submit nominations is Saturday, May 31, 2025.
About Kenneth G. Elzinga
Ken Elzinga, Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia – first recipient of the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship – is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished, effective, and influential educators in the economics profession.
During a distinguished teaching and research career that has spanned over 40 years, Ken has shown both creativity and versatility, both sharing his insights with large groups of students studying the principles of economics and effectively using the Socratic Method when working with students in more advanced settings. Ken is a pioneer in the use of literature to explore economic reasoning which led to his writing murder mysteries that can be solved by careful economic analysis.
Ken’s style of instruction and commitment to helping students develop an understanding of and appreciation for economic reasoning and insights serve as an inspiration for economic educators, so it is fitting for exemplary economic educators to be honored with an award in his name.
Citation for the 2025 Recipient
Wayne Geerling (The University of Texas at Austin)
Wayne Geerling is Professor of Instruction in the Department of Economics at The University of Texas at Austin where he teaches undergraduate economics. He has received more than a dozen teaching awards and co-authored six principles-level textbooks containing teaching tips and collaborative learning exercises, as well as suggestions for media to play, demonstrations to run, data collection experiments, poll questions to test learning in real time, and strategies for teaching online. He has published at least twenty-five peer-reviewed research articles on teaching methods and educational outcomes and is Associate Editor at the Journal of Economics Teaching for nine years. Wayne is also co-creator of three websites for economics instructors.
Wayne’s accomplishments and contributions are remarkable and demonstrate his deep commitment to improving and enhancing economic education and making economics fun and compelling for students. His teaching methods are creative, innovative, and transformative, while his research publications are rigorous and impactful. Wayne is a truly deserving recipient of the 2025 Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award.
Past Recipients
| 2024 | Kim Holder (The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) |
| 2023 | Scott P. Simkins (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University) Jonathan Meer (Texas A&M University) |
| 2022 | Rita A. Balaban (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Darshak Patel (University of Kentucky) |
| 2021 | Dirk Mateer (The University of Texas at Austin) Elizabeth Wheaton (Southern Methodist University) |
| 2020 | Abdullah Al-Bahrani (Northern Kentucky University) |
| 2019 | Patrick J. Conway (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) |
| 2018 | Anthony M. Carilli (Hampden-Sydney College) |
| 2017 | Lee Coppock (University of Virginia) |
| 2016 | Tisha Lin Nakao Emerson (Baylor University) |
| 2015 | Leah Greden Mathews (University of North Carolina Asheville) |
| 2014 | Peter W. Shuhmann (University of North Carolina Wilmington) |
| 2013 | Gail Mitchell Hoyt (University of Kentucky) |
| 2012 | Michael K. Salemi (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) |
| 2011 | Richard V. Butler (Trinity University) |
| 2010 | Paul Grimes (Mississippi State University) Jill Caviglia Harris (Salisbury University) |
| 2009 | KimMarie McGoldrick (University of Richmond) |
| 2008 | Julie Heath (The University of Memphis) Charles Holt (University of Virginia) |
| 2007 | Richard J. Cebula (Atlantic Armstrong State University) |
| 2006 | Sheryl Ball (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) Stephen Buckles (Vanderbilt University) Russell Sobel (West Virginia University) |
| 2005 | Steven L. Cobb (University of North Texas) Tom McCaleb (Florida State University) |
| 2004 | Thomas J. Nechyba (Duke University) L. Wayne Plumly, Jr. (Valdosta State University) |
| 2003 | Craufurd Goodwin (Duke University) Dennis O’Toole (Virginia Commonwealth University) Jason White (Northwest Missouri State University) |
| 2002 | William Darity, Jr. (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) William C. Wood (James Madison University) |