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Associate Professor Timothy A. Matherly, a respected colleague and dedicated teacher in the Florida State University College of Business for more than 28 years, has been named the 2008 Ross Oglesby Award winner.
Each year during Homecoming since 1973, FSU’s student-run leadership honor society "Garnet and Gold Key" bestows the Ross Oglesby Award, its most prestigious prize, on a nominated member of the faculty or staff who has served students and the university with exemplary commitment and integrity for a decade or more.
Matherly’s Oglesby Award was announced on Homecoming game day, Nov. 15, at the FSU Alumni Association’s Homecoming Awards Breakfast. Until it is revealed at the annual Alumni event, the winner’s identity is always a closely held secret kept even from the honoree.
"During his 28-year career at Florida State, Dr. Matherly has tirelessly dedicated his time, energy and talents to his students," said senior political science major Andrew Gonzalez, of Miami, the 2008-2009 president of Garnet and Gold Key. "He serves as a perfect example of leadership, scholastics, and service to the FSU student body. Our honor society is privileged to bestow this award upon such a distinguished and respected professor."
Matherly’s College of Business colleagues also sing his praises.
Pamela L. Perrewé, the Haywood and Betty Taylor Eminent Scholar of Business Administration and Distinguished Research Professor, called Matherly "a dedicated and talented teacher" who gives unselfishly of his time to advise or simply listen to his students. "Known as a challenging teacher who expects much from his students, he has demonstrated his teaching effectiveness in undergraduate lecture settings as well as advanced MBA graduate classes," said Perrewé, who nominated her College of Business colleague of 20 years for the 2008 Oglesby Award.
She noted that Matherly always earned excellent teaching evaluations, which she called particularly commendable given his rigorous teaching style. "He is one of the top instructors in the College of Business at Florida State based not only on student evaluations but also on course relevance. He has a passion for the courses he teaches and patience when helping others to learn.
"Further, for years Dr. Matherly has served as the faculty advisor for the College of Business honor society, Beta Gamma Sigma," Perrewé said. "He has been very active in both his own scholarship and his service to FSU as well. He has published and presented more than a dozen research articles and has been an active member of the university’s Faculty Senate for numerous years."
Matherly joined the FSU faculty in 1980 as an assistant professor. He received his doctorate in business administration in 1983 from Indiana University, where he was a lecturer from 1976 to 1980. His professional memberships include The Academy of Management, The Southern Management Association, Beta Gamma Sigma and Sigma Iota Epsilon.
He also has a long history of service to the Tallahassee community. Matherly has donated countless hours to the Suwannee River Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and served on its executive board since 1990. Camp Tom Matherly is named for his late son.
"A kinder, gentler soul more concerned for the greater good of FSU students would be hard to find," said William "Bill" Woodyard, a College of Business associate in business law and real estate, Garnet and Gold Key’s faculty advisor, and a former (2006) Oglesby Award winner. "Invariably, Tim is the first person to praise students, faculty and staff on their accomplishments."
"I have known and worked with Tim for 25 years in the Department of Management, which I chaired for 12 years, and he was a blessing to have on the faculty," wrote William P. Anthony, a professor of management and the Emeritus DeSantis Professor of Business Administration, in his nomination letter. "I could always count on Tim to do more than his share of the work in helping both our department and college reach their goals."
A College of Business colleague since 1980, marketing Professor Leisa R. Flynn declared Matherly a person of genuine character and a wonderful representative of all that is good in FSU faculty and Seminoles in general.
"As evidence of his long history of service to our college, he was awarded one of our first annual Core Values Awards," Flynn said in nominating Matherly for the Oglesby Award. "Tim’s office is rarely without a student in the guest chair, and his sense of humor belies his valued and wise counsel. He treats everyone with cordiality and respect. He has that rare mixture of honesty and caring. I guess that is what integrity really is.
"Tim is cut of old fashioned and rich cloth," she said. "He’s a stand-up guy in the true sense of the word. He embodies what it means to be a member of a community. We are very lucky to have Tim Matherly as a member of ours."