Reflections from Jorja L. Kimball
My first interaction with Dr. Jeff Froyd was in the early 1990s on the NSF Foundation Coalition (FC) grant. In addition to participating in a dedicated and group one had fun with, it was a marvellous introduction to the commitment and enthusiasm for learning that Jeff had! His strength of commitment was deep, especially when being brave enough to try out new meeting and teaching methods to a group of Engineering Deans and Faculty!! Jeff, along with others, knew they were herding cats, and went at it anyway!
He won my forever thanks for lending his intellect and working with me for what would turn out to be over 30 years of our careers. And in my case Jeff mentored me from the beginning as a non-Ph.D., Mexican American woman, who also just wanted the best for engineering students in South Texas. I am not alone in admiring Jeff’s commitment to education and that improvements could be made to curriculum and teaching methods to benefit ALL students, and especially those under-represented in STEM! The fact that Jeff would take time to explain and work with me as a staff member and on efforts that benefited DEI, before that was even a term, was perhaps not as striking to me then, as it is today when I reflect back.
Many of us also had the pleasure of getting to know Jeff further during his time at Texas A&M University. I worked with him on various proposals, and he encouraged and helped me with aspects of my dissertation, and my appreciation for that is unending. We made each other laugh, mostly because we were so opposite each other. I admired his desire for new and interesting projects with researchers he enjoyed working with, and with scholarly structure as part of all his work through the years I knew him.
Jeff shall be missed by me and so many others. I am amazed at how many faculty he knew and how much he served, at times more in the capacities that do not get much limelight or praise and require lots of work. I will be forever grateful to have met, worked with, and known Dr. Jeff Froyd, and will always think of him with the view of all he did for the research and practice of engineering education. Farewell, mi amigo! Hasta la vista!
Jorja L. Kimball, Ph.D.
Regent’s Fellow,
Executive Director, Research Development,
Texas A&M University, College Station.