Engineering professors earn Campbell’s top faculty honors

The School of Engineering took home both of the highest honors awarded to Campbell University faculty this year.

The D.P. Russ Jr. and Walter S. Jones Sr. Alumni Awards for Teaching and Research Excellence were given to Dr. Allison Lee and Dr. Anastasia Rynearson respectively, marking the first time in recent history that one program earned both honors in the same year.

The news was big for the School's founding dean, Dr. Jenna Carpenter, as the school recently celebrated its 10th year.

"Our School of Engineering was designed from the beginning around evidence-based strategies that support student success, deepen learning and graduate industry-ready professionals," Carpenter said. "So high-quality teaching and research in engineering education - which these awards celebrate - are a core part of what we do every day and what our School is known for at the national level."

The aim of the awards is to give faculty members from across the university campus, both graduate and undergraduate, a chance to recognize the good work and outstanding achievements of their colleagues. Winners are chosen by the Faculty Development Committee, and each receive a $500 award and commemorative trophy at Faculty Orientation in the fall.

Teaching Exellence

Dr. Allison Lee
Interim Assistant Dean
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
School of Engineering

Dr. Allison Lee arrived at Campbell University in 2019 after earning her PhD in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University. But her work as an instructor and eventually a professor began while a doctoral student - she worked as a graduate teaching assistant at BYU and taught three undergraduate courses, two of which were sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She also worked with undergraduate researchers to complete their experiments and analyze data.

That experience served her well upon her arrival at Campbell, where she teaches mechanical engineering courses, including fluid dynamics. She's a faculty advisor for Campbell's American Society of Mechanical Engineers Student Section, which provides opportunities for students to begin their professional careers by joining a professional engineering society. She has also served as faculty advisor for Campbell's award-winning NASA Human Rover Exploration Challenge team, which took home first place overall at the competition in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2025.

This summer, Lee was one of two professors involved in the inaugural three-week Bob Barker Engineering Camp for Future Innovators, which invited high school engineering students on campus the opportunity to learn team building and work on a high-level project with a local business.

Outside of the classroom, Lee is an avid sports fan and regular face at Campbell Athletics events (especially football and softball games).

Research Excellence

Dr. Anastasia Rynearson
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
School of Engineering

Research has been at the forefront of Dr. Anastasia Rynearson's career at Campbell University. After joining the program in its second year in 2017, Rynearson focused her research on undergraduate mentoring - particularly the role of graduate students as "middle mentors" - and student pathways.

In 2024, Rynearson was announced as a recipient of the prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support her work toward improving support for undergraduate engineering students who are unsure of their choice of major. The award, titled "Choose Your PATH: Identifying and Supporting Undergraduate Academic Decision Points for Persistence, Attrition, Transition or Hiatus," contributed nearly $600,000 toward Rynearson's project.

In 2022, Campbell was one of eight universities involved in the "Research for All" project, organized by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). Rynearson joined Carpenter to represent Campbell on the project, which aimed to expand and improve access to and the productivity of research experiences for undergraduate engineering students.

The effort focused on changing the undergraduate research experience from procedural to entrepreneurial, allowing students to better appreciate the discovery and wonder of academic research as well as the productive value of their contributions to research.

Rynearson is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Campbell. She received a PhD from Purdue University in Engineering Education and a B.S. and M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology.