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CIS Professor Receives Distinguished Faculty Award in Service
 Dr. Donald Sanderson, a professor in the College of Business and Technology’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences, received the Distinguished Faculty Award in Service. He strives to use his specialized skills to benefit society as a whole, working on projects that serve his students and the community, as well as complement his teaching and research. "If I see a need and I know I have the skills to fulfill that need, I do it," he says.
On the university level, Sanderson is a database consultant for the Osteoporosis Center in the Quillen College of Medicine and a member of a task force studying interdisciplinary programs that are best suited to ETSU, and has been active on the International Programs Advisory Committee and a Tennessee Board of Regents Program Evaluation Team. He is also on the College of Business and Technology’s Honors, Assessment, and Promotion and Tenure committees.
Sanderson serves his department as a member of its Graduate and Assessment committees and Faculty Performance Review Ad Hoc Committee, and as its Honors in Discipline adviser. He also administers the department’s ORACLE database, helps with recruiting and orientation, advises both undergraduate and graduate students, and assists colleagues who are finishing their doctoral degrees.
On the national level, Sanderson is a volunteer program evaluator for CSAB/ABET (Computing Sciences Accreditation Board/Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). His efforts in this area have led to the ETSU Department of Computer and Information Sciences’ selection by ABET as a pilot school for the accreditation of information systems programs. He also works extensively as a pro bono consultant with the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that oversees policies, procedures and information exchange for commercial aviation, and was instrumental in the International Standards Organization’s efforts to develop data exchange standards for manufacturing.
Sanderson "is passionately committed to ensuring that the university’s students receive the highest quality learning opportunities possible and to monitoring their learning to assure that they leave … well-equipped to meet the challenges of the organizations for which they will work or in which they will continue their studies," a colleague wrote in support of his nomination. "(He) exemplifies that nature of what service is to an institution such as ours. Don willingly and joyfully gives of his time, effort and expertise for the benefit of others and where the overt rewards may be few. He is always the first to volunteer and pick up the mantle of work that must be done. Don quietly works in service to others because it is the right thing to do."
"He has a genuine concern for the junior faculty members and offers his assistance in any way that he can to help us reach our long-term goals and be successful," wrote another colleague.
Sanderson came to ETSU in 1993 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., where he was a teaching and research assistant while pursuing his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science. He also holds a B.A. in liberal arts from the New College of the University of South Florida in Sarasota. He previously worked as a self-employed computer consultant and as a programmer for Environmental and Energy Engineering Co., Sarasota.
—Article by Jennifer Hill of ETSU University Relations.
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