2023 Dean's Award for Advising Excellence

The Dean's Office Award for Advising Excellence is presented annually to a College of Arts and Sciences faculty member who has distinguished him or herself as an effective, caring mentor for students in the College. The award is selected by a committee in the college composed of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, the Director of Advising, and the Graduation Analysts.

William B. Baggett, Associate Professor of Teaching, Department of Computer Science

Dr. Baggett is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Computer Science Department (effective September 1, 2023). He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Memphis. Dr. Baggett was previously a Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh, a Business Systems Advisor at FedEx Express, and a Project Coordinator at the University of Memphis before joining the Computer Science Department as a faculty member in September 2014.

Baggett has taught courses on databases and introductory programming for undergraduate and graduate students. He has also taught a course on ethics and technology for undergraduate students.

Since fall 2015, he has advised undergraduate students majoring in Computer Science and served as the department’s Internship Coordinator for both undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Baggett has also helped mentor graduate students by serving as an M.S. project committee member for numerous students since 2017. He has also served on the department’s Student Awards and Scholarships Committee and its Instructor Search Committee since 2017.

Dr. Baggett is the department’s faculty affiliate with the Computer Science Advisory Board. In this role, he facilitates communication between the department and leaders from industry and academia who provide guidance and support and hire the department’s graduates.

Dr. Baggett’s outreach activities have included the department's Admitted Freshmen Reception and Creative Game Design summer camp and the University’s MEMbound Days Information Fair, Fall Preview Days, Discover Your Major Day, and STEM Career Fair. He participated in the first Summer Institute on Parallel and Distributed Computing at Tennessee Tech University, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.  On five occasions, Dr. Baggett has joined high school teachers and university instructors of Computer Science from across the country, working for Educational Testing Service on the task of grading the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles exam taken by thousands of high school students each year.