December 2015 — Sam Matteson, Professor Emeritus (physics) received the Nilson Award on November 16.
This is a national award given annually by Faculty Commons to one Christian faculty member at a public university who has demonstrated outstanding leadership.
Sam received his PhD from Baylor in 1976, and did postdoc work at Cal Tech. He worked at Texas Instruments as a research scientist until joining the UNT physics department in 1987. We met Sam the third year he was here at UNT and he has been a great help to students and faculty over the years.
On the first day of class each semester, Sam would introduce himself to the class and try to help them understand something about him:
- Married to Carolyn, who was a high school English teacher;
- Father to three grown children (and an increasing number of grandchildren);
- Graduate of Baylor University and Caltech (post doc);
- From” LA” as they call it in Lower Alabama;
- A follower of Jesus of Nazareth.
He would tell the class “Because of my values, you are more important than your grade, and I am always glad to talk to you in my office or over coffee.” Over the years, Sam had many opportunities to talk with students about science, faith in Christ, and managing life.
At the Nilson Award ceremony, other Christian faculty talked about what they had learned from Sam: when to speak up about Christ; when it was inappropriate to say anything about Christ (because it was an official meeting); how to work with difficult people in a manner that still showed grace.