Dr. Barbara Hale, professor of physics at Missouri University of Science and Technology, was named 2013 Woman of the Year by Missouri S&T during a campus ceremony on Wednesday, April 17 in conjunction with this year’s MinerFest OGS weekend celebration.
The Woman of the Year award is given annually in recognition of efforts to improve the campus environment for women and minorities. As part of the award, Hale received a $2,000 stipend funded by Missouri S&T graduate and fellow OGS member Cynthia Tang, founder and former chair of Insight Industries Inc.
“Dr. Hale is an outstanding educator,” wrote one of her nominators. “She has been an outspoken advocate for the faculty and for her students.” The nominator also noted that Dr. Hale has received both the Faculty Excellence Award and the Outstanding Teacher Award numerous times.
Hale, a senior investigator in the Cloud and Aerosol Science Laboratory at Missouri S&T, also serves as the personal advisor for Chi Omega sorority, a position she has held since the chapter’s founding in 1979. Hale came to Missouri S&T in 1969 as a visiting assistant professor of mathematics. She became a research associate in the Graduate Center for Cloud Physics Research in 1971. In 1973, Hale became assistant professor of physics and a senior investigator in the Graduate Center for Cloud Physics Research. She was named associate professor of physics in 1977 and professor of physics in 1982.
Hale, who holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University and a bachelor of science degree from Syracuse University, both in physics, is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Meteorological Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Sigma Pi Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi.
In addition to the Faculty Excellence and Outstanding Teaching awards, Hale received the Chi Omega National Advisor Award in 2000 and the Miner Alumni Association Faculty Advisor Award in 2002. View and download photos from the Woman of the Year celebration and other MinerFest activities here.