Two Faculty Members Honored as 2026 Distinguished Professors

The university established the Distinguished Professor title in 2018 to recognize full-time faculty for excellence in research, teaching and service. The recipients were announced Monday (May 4) at the spring faculty meeting in Fulton Chapel.

"The Distinguished Professor award is an outstanding way for us to properly acknowledge the value of excellence and the significant contributions made by these faculty members to their disciplines and community of scholars," said Noel Wilkin, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. "The Distinguished Professor award is an award that recognizes the faculty with sustained excellence at the university."

Babin is the Phil B. Harden Professor of Marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing, Analytics and Professional Sales in the School of Business Administration. He has authored more than 200 professional publications and multiple textbooks on marketing and data analysis.

He also was recognized as the Academy of Marketing Science's 2024 Vector Marketing and Outstanding Marketing Educator Award winner and with the Harold W. Berkman Distinguished Service Award.

"He is internationally known as an expert in marketing research and is a frequent guest speaker at universities and conferences around the world," Wilkin said. "He has also served as a consultant to institutions of higher learning in structuring graduate business programs and as an expert witness in matters involving marketing and consumer research."

Bentley, professor of pharmacy administration and marketing and director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, has worked at the university since earning a doctoral degree at Ole Miss in 1998.

"A nationally and internationally recognized researcher, his work spans medication use and quality of life, patient-reported outcomes, health economics and outcomes research, biostatistics, pharmaceutical marketing, and patient behavior," Wilkin said. "He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and given more than 250 presentations at regional, national and international conferences."

His work has been recognized with the Outstanding Article of the Year Award from Quality of Life Research, the Best Research Publication Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association's Wiederholt Prize for the Best Published Paper in Economic, Social and Administrative Sciences.

He was also this year's recipient of the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award, the university's highest honor for faculty success, and previously received the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, the institution's highest teaching honor, as well as the Graduate School Distinguished Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.

Also recognized at the meeting was Jeremy Loenneke, associate professor of health, exercise science and recreation management, who received the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring. Melissa Rodriguez King, program manager for the School of Pharmacy's Office of Research and Graduate Programs, received the Donald R. Cole Excellence in Advancing Access and Belongingness in Graduate Education Award.

Meng-chieh Lin, instructor in modern languages, and Katherine Ann "Kakky" Brown, assistant director of student support in the William Magee Center for AOD and Wellness Education, were awarded the Frist Student Service Award for outstanding support of students.

"What makes these awards special is that these stories – these moments of care, intervention and belief – often happen behind the scenes," said Shawnboda Mead, vice chancellor for student affairs. "They don't always make headlines, they don't always show up in metrics, but they truly change lives."

Top: Barry Babin (left) and John Bentley have been named as Distinguished Professors. Babin, the Phil B. Harden Professor of Marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing, Analytics and Professional Sales, and Bentley, professor of pharmacy administration and marketing and director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, were chosen based on their excellence in research, teaching and service. Photos by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services