Betty Barr, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was honored as the 2005 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Outstanding Educator of the Year at the group’s Region 5 Technical, Professional and Student Conference, held in San Antonio from April 7-9.
“It was a surprise to be nominated, much less honored with this award,” Barr said. “I am delighted that the UH student chapter of IEEE wanted to nominate me this year.”
Barr joined the Cullen College of Engineering as an assistant professor in 1971 after completing her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Houston. As a mathematician, she teaches freshman and sophomore computing, numerical methods and linear algebra for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). In addition, Barr has served as the department’s director of undergraduate studies for 24 years and as the advisor for both the UH student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and the Texas Epsilon Chapter of Tau Beta Pi. She was promoted to associate professor and named associate chair of the department in 2003.
Barr has received numerous awards during her tenure at the college of engineering, including the college’s Career Teaching Award and the Kittinger Teaching Excellence Award twice, as well as the university’s George Magner Award for Excellence in Academic Advising. In 2005, she was honored by the Engineering Alumni Association with the Abraham E. Dukler Distinguished Engineering Faculty Award, given to faculty members who have made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments and careers have brought credit to the UH Cullen College of Engineering.