Dr. Hector Ochoa Honored
March 26, 2013
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Professor Named Among Top Hispanic Professors in Texas
March 26, 2013
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
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Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
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March 26, 2013
Dr. Hector A. Ochoa has been recognized as one of Online Schools of Texas’ top 14 Hispanic professors in the state, Dr. James Nelson, The University of Texas at Tyler College of Engineering and Computer Science dean, announced.
Serving UT Tyler since September 2008, Ochoa is an assistant professor of electrical engineering.
The honor recognizes post-secondary Hispanic educators who have been awarded recently for excellence in the classroom, on campus and/or in the community.
“As a Hispanic professor, it feels really nice to be recognized as one who is making a difference in Texas and gives me the motivation to continue working hard to provide the best possible education to our students here at UT Tyler,” Ochoa said.
This is the first year Online Schools of Texas assembled such group. For the complete list, visit the Online School of Texas' official listing.
“We narrowed our independent list of possible candidates down considerably by selecting those professors who we felt were most deserving of the honor. There were a large number of professors who could have been selected, but we think these 14 are exemplary,” said Matt Davis of Online Schools in Texas and manager of StateStats.org. “Each is an individual with a unique set of circumstances that made them such effective educators. However, they are united by two factors: their Hispanic heritage and their fervent dedication to educating their students.”
Named UT Tyler’s “Outstanding Electrical Engineering Professor of the Year” three out of four consecutive years, Ochoa recently received the UT Tyler Jack and Dorothy Faye White Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the university’s nomination for the 2012-13 Piper Professor Award.
He earned the “Best Faculty Paper Award” at last year’s American Society of Engineering Education Gulf South West Annual Conference. In the peer-reviewed paper, “An Online Course in Linear Circuits Analysis for Electrical Engineers,” Ochoa discussed his development and implementation of an online linear circuit analysis course that launched in summer 2011 at UT Tyler.
The North Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities also named him among their 2012 Outstanding Distance Learning Faculty.
He currently serves as adviser for UT Tyler’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers student chapter and IEEE Robotics Team.
Ochoa holds a master of science in physical sciences and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, both from UT El Paso.
For more information about Online Schools in Texas, visit their website.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 7,000 high-ability students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.