GV professors receive fellows honor
GVL Archive / Dylan Graham Paul Leidig, Director of the School of Computing and Information Systems, recieved the Lifetime Distinguished Fellow Achievement Award from the Association of Information Technology Professionals Educators Special Interest Group
Feb 10, 2011
Grand Valley State University professors Paul Leidig and Nael Barakat have been named fellows in their professions.
“Being named a member of a society recognizes that the fellow is among the most accomplished and respected professionals in the field,” said Paul Plotkowski, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. “Fellow is the top rank of membership in a professional society.”
Leidig, director of the School of Computing and Information Systems, received the Lifetime Distinguished Fellow Achievement Award from the Association of Information Technology Professionals Educators Special Interest Group, according to a GVSU press release.
“Professor Leidig was recognized for long and outstanding service to his profession and his professional society including extensive leadership,” Plotkowski said.
Barakat, chair of the mechanical engineering emphasis in the School of Engineering, was named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
“Professor Barakat was recognized for his technical accomplishments and his service to his profession through leadership and his extensive mentoring of students and young engineers,” Plotkowski said.
Leidig, who has been a professor for about 30 years, said he is in good company with fellows who were named in previous years.
“I’m one of 14 that have received this award, and most of the others are retired or near retiring, and so it was just a real honor to be put with a group that have worked their whole career in this area,” he said.
He added to him, the award means recognition of his dedication to the field.
“Well, I guess it means that an institution or an organization – the Association of Information Technology Professionals, which has about 3,000 or 4,000 active members of IT professionals – the fact that dedicating a lot of years into working for the group was recognized,” Leidig said. Barakat, who has been a professor for nine years, said that the award is an encouragement.
“This recognition is a great motivator for me to help more and go further in educating young engineers and in promoting engineering as a profession that is absolutely necessary for our society,” he said.
