Two faculty members at Texas Tech have been selected for membership in the institution’s Teaching Academy, an honor reserved for a limited share of the university’s faculty and one that underscores sustained contributions to teaching excellence and the scholarship of learning.
Muntazar Monsur, an associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, and Jhones Sarturi, an associate professor in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences, were chosen for the distinction. Since its founding in 1997, the Teaching Academy has capped its membership at no more than 20 percent of the university’s faculty, making selection both competitive and selective.
The academy serves as a hub for advancing high-impact teaching practices across the university. Its members help guide award selection processes, organize seminars on instructional effectiveness and oversee programming tied to the annual John M. Burns Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, where new inductees will be formally recognized next fall.
“This is wonderful news and well deserved,” said Clint Krehbiel, dean of the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. Monsur and Sarturi are expected to contribute to academy initiatives, including workshops, seminars and committee service throughout the academic year.
“My nearly seven years at Texas Tech have been centered on innovative, engaged teaching and finding meaningful ways to connect students with real-world community challenges in landscape architecture,” Monsur said. “Being part of such an esteemed academy alongside exceptional colleagues is a true validation of my teaching efforts.”
Monsur, a native of Bangladesh, directs Texas Tech’s Extended Reality Lab, where his work explores how virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies can reshape teaching and research in landscape architecture. Before joining the university in 2019, he was a postdoctoral research scholar with the Natural Learning Initiative at North Carolina State University. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a doctorate in design from North Carolina State.
“Our classes are student-centered, designed to foster meaningful learning experiences, and strive on evidence-based pedagogical techniques to engage students with learning and their career goals” Sarturi added, “and, we certainly have fun with it.”
Sarturi, whose research centers on the digestive physiology of beef cattle, also manages the department’s Ruminant Nutrition Laboratory and the Ruminant Nutrition Center at the college’s New Deal Research Farm. His work focuses on developing and refining strategies to improve the use of byproducts, forages and grains in ruminant diets. He earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University for the Development of Pantanal in Brazil and a doctorate in animal science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Ameri Gurley, chair of the Teaching Academy’s Executive Council and a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering, emphasized that the academy’s role extends beyond recognition.
In addition to electing new members, she said, the organization plays a central role in selecting several university wide teaching awards and delivering seminars aimed at improving instructional practice; efforts that, taken together, help shape the culture of teaching at Texas Tech.
Current members of the Teaching Academy from Davis College include:
- Matthew Barnes (2022) Associate Professor | Department of Natural Resources Management
- Robert Cox (2016) Professor & Associate Dean for Academic & Student Programs | Davis College
- Courtney Meyers (2015) Professor & Graduate Studies Coordinator | Department of Agricultural Education & Communications
- Chance Brooks (2013) Chair & Professor | Department of Animal & Food Sciences
- Scott Burris (2009) Chair & Professor | Department of Agricultural Education & Communications
- Heidi Brady (2006) Professor | Department of Animal & Food Sciences
- Sam Jackson (2004) Professor | Department of Animal & Food Sciences
- Leslie Thompson (2004) Professor | Department of Animal & Food Sciences
- Phil Johnson (2002) Professor & Charles Thompson Chair | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
- Cindy Akers (2002) Vice Provost for Administrative Affairs & Professor | Department of Agricultural Education & Communications
- Peter Dotray (1999) Rockwell Chair of Weed Science | Department of Plant & Soil Science
- Sukant Misra (1998) Professor | Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
- Mark Miller (1997) Professor & SALE Chair | Department of Animal & Food Sciences
CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu
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