FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State University’s Dr. Daniel Marble has been recognized as a Piper Professor, arguably the most prestigious award for teaching excellence in the state.
The award, begun by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation in 1958, annually honors 10 outstanding full-time teachers. It recognizes educators for academic, scientific and scholarly achievement and for dedication to the teaching profession.
Dr. Marble joined the Tarleton faculty in 1998 and has given more than 150 presentations and produced 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Nuclear Instruments and Methods and Physical Review,relating to ion-atom collisions, ion beam characterization of materials, accelerator technology, and science education using accelerators.
“Teaching is about sharing,” he said in the award nomination packet. “If you are passionate about your profession then you want to share that passion with others.
“I tell my students that they need to pursue a career that they are passionate about and pursue excellence in that career. While doing physics is fun, I discovered that my real passion was in the teaching of physics. I was fortunate to have been taught by a nationally recognized physics teacher in college. He spent time with me and cared about my success in and out of the classroom. It was obvious that he enjoyed what he did for a living and was making a difference in the lives of his students. I decided that I wanted to follow his path and switched from going to medical school to pursuing a PhD and a teaching career.”
Prior to Tarleton, Dr. Marble was a physics Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point and a visiting scientist at Materials and Physical Science Directorates of the Army Research Lab.
He earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Houston and both his master’s and PhD degrees in physics and accelerator-based atomic physics from the University of North Texas.
He is the Texas Section Representative for the American Association of Physics Teachers. He earned the Tarleton Community of Scholars Award and the Mary Todd Monroe Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers in 2019.
He also has been honored with the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal by the U.S. Army, Tarleton College of Science and Technology Faculty Award for Student Success, Tarleton’s inaugural Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award, and the Jack and Louise Arthur Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was named a Texas A&M University System Regents Professor for the 2020-21 academic year.
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of nearly 17,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. True to Tarleton’s values of excellence, integrity and respect, academic programs emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.