Lance Matheson receives 2015 Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education
Lance Matheson, associate professor of business information technology in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, received the university’s 2015 Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education.
Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, the Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education is presented annually to a Virginia Tech faculty or staff member who has had a significant impact on international education. Selection is based upon contributions to the internationalization of Virginia Tech, the impact on students, the impact on the campus and community, the significance of the initiative, and the sustainability of the initiative. Awardees receive $2,000.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1989, Matheson led his first study-aboard program to Freiburg, Germany, in 2000. Since then, he has traveled on an additional 24 study-abroad programs, mostly as the faculty leader or co-leader. From 2007 to 2009, he was Pamplin's first director of international programs.
“Lance’s involvement in international education for the past 15 years has been continuous, intense, innovative, and passionate,” Reed Kennedy, associate professor of management practice and Pamplin's current director of international programs, wrote in his letter of nomination. “Through his devotion to students, multitudes have been abroad under his care and gained the personal and professional growth experiences that his programs provide. Student satisfaction with his programs is quite high.”
In 2012, Matheson took over the leadership of Pamplin’s signature semester program in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, and has increased student participation in the program. During winter break 2015, he led the college’s first study-abroad program to Australia.
In addition to leading study-abroad programs, Matheson taught in Virginia Tech’s master of information technology program at the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in India from 2005 to 2008. In 2008, he was part of a USAID/HED grant to select Haitian students to attend Virginia Tech, and he traveled to Haiti to facilitate this exchange.
Matheson’s commitment to teaching and international experiences was recognized with Pamplin's Excellence in Outreach Award in 2013, the college’s Award for Excellence in International Programs in 2009, and a university Certificate of Teaching Excellence in 1998.
An active member of the Decision Sciences Institute, Matheson received his bachelor’s degree, master of business administration degree, and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
