A project to refurbish an obsolete playground at the Old Mill Center for Children and Families has earned Oregon State University instructor Sandy Neubaum this year’s Corvallis Gazette-Times Faculty Leadership Award.

Neubaum was one of 12 faculty and staff members honored by the OSU College of Business at the school’s annual awards dinner Friday night, held in the Valley End Zone at Reser Stadium.

Gazette-Times Publisher Mike McInally was on hand to present the Faculty Leadership Award, established in 1986 to recognize contributions to the community by College of Business faculty. Neubaum was honored for an experiential learning project she assigned to students in her Organizational Behavior class. Two groups of students helped redesign the playground at Old Mill and raise more than $10,000 toward the project.

Neubaum will transition from her current instructor role to a new position as the associate director of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program this month.

Tara DiSante was given the Outstanding Professional

Faculty/Staff Award. As an accountant in Faculty Services, DiSante has created an organized, efficient environment that is consistently praised as making faculty’s lives easier.

The Byron L. Newton Award for Excellence in Teaching was bestowed upon Dennis Caplan and Dan Lykins. Caplan, an assistant professor of accounting, was recognized for his teaching and for his textbook, “Management Accounting: Concepts and Techniques.” Lykins, an instructor of management and business law, was recognized for his outstanding work in the classroom.

Byron Marshall and Don Neubaum received the Excellence in Scholarship Award. Marshall, an assistant professor of information management, has published seven journal articles and made 12 conference presentations while managing a heavy teaching load. Neubaum, an assistant professor of management, has published cutting-edge research in top-tier journals and has been appointed to several editorial boards.

The Outstanding Faculty Service Award was presented to Jimmy Yang. Yang, an assistant professor of finance, was heralded for his role as faculty adviser for the Finance Club.

The inaugural Executive in Residence Award was presented to Larry Brown, a recently retired partner from PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Portland. This program was established this year to provide students and faculty the opportunity to benefit from the expertise of business executives, to strengthen the relationship between the college and the business community, and to help transition students into the business world.

Newcomb Fellowships were given to Roger Graham, Erik Larson, Prem Mathew and Susan Matson.

Graham, a professor of accounting, was heralded for his work to develop the first major for the College of Business as a new professional school. Larson, a professor of management, was recognized for the success of his textbook, “Project Management: The Managerial Process.” Mathew, an assistant professor of finance, has been a champion of the college’s vision to develop profession-ready graduates. Matson, administrative assistant to Dean Ilene Kleinsorge, was honored for her exemplary work and professionalism in support of the college.