May 4, 2016
'Creative and caring approach' earns Ronald Sages Faculty Excellence Award
Ronald Sages, assistant professor in personal financial planning, was recently awarded the Faculty Excellence Award through the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance. As the award recipient, Sages was nominated for his contribution to teaching the capstone on Case Studies for graduate students within the School of Family Studies and Human Services.
Sages was one of the first graduates of the personal financial planning doctoral program in the College of Human Ecology in 2012, during which he was awarded the Outstanding Ph.D Student of the Year award. He also has a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut and is the co-founder, president and chief investment officer of Chapin Asset Management, Inc.
With Sages' real world experience in the financial planning and risk assessment sector, he brings a legitimacy to the online personal financial planning course, notes Jonathan Fox, faculty coordinator for the online program and the nominator for this award. Fox goes on to detail that Sages has a "creative and caring approach ... in an online environment, [that] leads students to accept the challenges and move through the difficult work of integrating complex material." Competent and excellent financial planners are the result of Sages' integrative learning experience, which includes self-designed activities that evaluate students' skills.
The care Sages has for his students, their coursework and future ability is noted by recent graduate Sarah Schut.
"Not many professors have the dedication to read every word, review every calculation, and clearly identify weaknesses and strengths — Ron Sages brings that level of intellectual vigor and just plain hard work to his teaching," Schut said.
The teaching evaluations from Sages' online courses repeatedly label him as engaged, knowledgeable and professional.
"[Dr. Sages'] nomination validates the goals and achievement of our nationally recognized programs in financial planning," said Dorothy Durband, director of the School of Family Studies and Human Services.
Sages received the Faculty Excellence Award at the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance annual meeting April 18, in Kansas City, Missouri.