RAPID CITY, S.D. (Nov. 28, 2017) – Dan Dolan, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, has received the prestigious national Tau Beta Pi McDonald Mentor Award.
The award celebrates Tau Beta Pi educators for excellence in mentoring. It is presented to one college educator in the United States each year who has consistently supported the personal and professional development of students and colleagues.
With a national membership of over 550,000, Tau Beta Pi is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States. It includes engineering students who have shown academic, personal and professional achievement.
The Tau Beta Pi award letter recognizes Dolan, “for his continued commitment to the education and development of engineering students and for positively impacting thousands of lives through encouragement, guidance, and with passion.”
Dolan is the director of the Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing and Production (CAMP) at SD Mines. CAMP is a competitive, nationally recognized program that brings together students, faculty, and industry leaders to partner on real-world projects. CAMP includes 11 teams and more than 400 students and 15 faculty.
Tau Beta Pi officials write that they were impressed with the broad support Dolan received in the nomination for this award. “His letter of support from the chapter was signed by nearly 175 students and his letter of support from his department had the signatures of 16 of his faculty and staff colleagues. That is a testament to how many people Dr. Dolan has impacted during his tenure at the South Dakota School of Mines.”
For his part Dolan recognizes the faculty, staff and students at SD Mines, “I am greatly humbled to receive this award, but you have to work at a place like this to get such an award. The trust and respect that students, staff, and faculty have for each other is what allows mentoring work at this level,” says Dolan.
Dolan was presented with a $1,000 cash prize, a $1,000 donation to the Mines Tau Beta Pi chapter in his name and an engraved medallion.
This is the third time the McDonald Mentor award has been awarded to a Mines faculty member. Toni Logar, Ph.D., computer science professor, received the award in 2016 and Carter Kerk, Ph.D., industrial engineering professor, received the inaugural award in 2006.