MARQUETTE, Mich.—Northern Michigan University’s 2010 Distinguished Faculty Award Recipients are Larry Pagel of the College of Business and Eileen Smit from the School of Nursing.

Pagel recently received the John Robert Gregg Award in business education at the National Business Education Association convention in San Diego. He is former chair of the NMU Academic Senate, chair of the College of Business Executive Committee for the past 10 years and adviser for the business education fraternity Pi Omega Pi, ASNMU and the Lutheran Student Movement. He is also the national president of Delta Pi Episilon’s Research Foundation, Pi Omega Pi, and the state president of the Michigan Business Education Association.

An active member of the Policies Commission for Business and Economic Education, Pagel has written several policy statements published in the Business Education Forum by the National Business Education Association. He is the co-author of two editions of a proofreading textbook with Cengage/South-Western Publishing Company and serves as a blind reviewer for several prominent business education journals.

Smit has taught psychiatric mental health, community health and pediatric nursing, as well as nursing in a multicultural society. She was instrumental developing three elective courses. With professor Mary Jane Tremethick, Smit developed "Interdisciplinary Study in Global Health Care,” the only nursing course to fulfill any of the liberal studies requirements. Both were recognized for this innovative program by Michigan Campus Compact, which awarded them the faculty community service-learning award in 2009. They are also developing a plan to train a sustainable network of Honduran peer educators. On a related note, Smit helped to establish the Friends of Honduras student organization.

A 2000 receipient of the Michigan Association of Governing Boards Distinguished Faculty Award in 2000, Smit has served on several university committees including the Civil Rights panel, AAUP, the University Priorities Committee and the Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee. She has written or co-written 11 successful grant applications.