Marketing Professor Nancy Frontczak has been named Marketing Educator of the Year for 2005 from the national Marketing Educators' Association.

"It's a very huge honor," said Frontczak, who will accept the award at the annual MEA meeting on April 14-16 in La Jolla, Calif., where she will deliver the keynote address. The award is given to only one professor per year.

Frontczak was nominated for the award by Mary Curren, marketing professor at Cal State Northridge. Criteria included classroom performance, mentoring students, publications of a pedagogical nature, and teaching-related service to the school, community and profession.

"Nancy is very deserving of this award and truly is a master educator," says Jack Schibrowsky, marketing professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who is past president of MEA and chair of the Marketing Educator of the Year Award committee. "She has been a leader in the field of marketing education for over two decades, (and) has produced over 50 intellectual contributions in the field of marketing including articles in our field's top journals."

Frontczak has taught at Metro for 18 years. After receiving her doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1977, she taught at the University of Colorado before coming to Metro in 1987. She has garnered many honors during her career at Metro, including the 2004 Presidential Performance Award for Outstanding Teaching, the "Most Loved Faculty" Award from Metro State Alumni in 2003, Outstanding Paper Awards from the Marketing Educators' Association in 1990 and 2004, the Bright Ideas / Best Practices Award from the Academy for Teaching Excellence in 2002, and several Professional Development Awards from Metro over the years.

"Nancy is a great role model in the department," says department chair Clay Daughtrey. "She is always willing to assist new and experienced faculty in professional development, teaching and service. We all aspire to be like her."

Frontczak says receiving the MEA award represents a sort of career capstone. "I'm thrilled, and it's good for Metro, too."