Three University of Toledo faculty members were named Distinguished University Professors and one faculty member was named Distinguished University Lecturer in recognition of their exemplary achievements in teaching, research, scholarship and professional service.
The newest faculty members with these honorary titles were approved and recognized by the UToledo Board of Trustees on Wednesday, March 5.
Distinguished University Professors
The faculty members who have received the honor in 2025 are:
• Ellen Bolman Pullins, the Schmidt Research Professor of Sales and Sales Management and a professor of marketing in the John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation;
• Randall Ellingson, the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization Endowed Chair and a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and
• Michael Rees, a professor in the Departments of Urology and Pathology in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences and a transplant surgeon and surgical director of the University of Toledo Medical Center’s kidney transplant program.
“The Distinguished University Professor is a prestigious honor that reflects the national and international distinction these three faculty members have received through their scholarly contributions,” said Dr. Scott Molitor, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “It is the work of UToledo scholars such as Drs. Ellingson, Pullins and Rees that has led to our recent recognition as a Carnegie R1 Very High Research Activity institution. We’re proud to recognize their accomplishments and we’re grateful for their service and for the prestige they have brought to the University.”
Pullins
Pullins joined the UToledo faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and International Business in 1996 and was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and to professor in 2008.
She served as director of the Edward Schmidt School of Professional Sales from 2010 until 2014 and is currently the Schmidt Research Professor of Sales and Sales Management.
A Fulbright Scholar and a member of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Fulbright Specialist Roster, Pullins has presented at professional conferences in numerous countries, including Japan, Germany, India, and Panama — as well as throughout the United States — and currently serves as the senior editor for the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.
Her research interests include the customer response to personal selling and managing the selling role, interpersonal relationship development, motivation, sales technology, and identification in both domestic and international sales contexts.
Pullins served on the University’s Graduate Council and University Research Council and has chaired numerous college committees including the College Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. She also has served on several dissertation committees and participated in multiple international grants.
“I am humbled to receive the distinction of being named a Distinguished University Professor at The University of Toledo. I appreciate the recognition, not just as a personal accolade, but as a testament to the collective efforts and achievements of our academic community,” Pullins said. “I have been privileged to witness and contribute to the remarkable growth of sales scholarship. When I began, there were only a handful of sales programs, and research was rarely published in top journals. The growth in sales education and research since then has been remarkable, as I’ve watched the development of a community of scholars dedicated to professionalizing the field of sales. I am blessed to have played a part in this transformation.
“I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support of my family, colleagues, students and the University. The University of Toledo, the John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation and the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales have always enabled me to pursue my passions and interests, and it is a joy to give back. Above all, I thank God for providing me with strength and guidance throughout this journey. Every good gift comes from above. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with amazing colleagues, advance the sales profession and support the mission of The University of Toledo.”
Ellingson
Ellingson joined the UToledo faculty as an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2008 and was promoted to professor in 2015. He has served as the chair of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization Chair in Photovoltaics since 2019.
Ellingson’s research education activities focus on supporting the development of knowledge and student expertise in the physics of nanomaterials and thin films, including charge carrier dynamics and optoelectronic properties, for photovoltaics — with relevance to existing and newly developing materials and architectures.
He has been awarded six patents related to his work in intracavity-doubled tunable optical parametric oscillators and solar cell materials science, has received millions of dollars in grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of State, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Energy, and his impressive publication record has resulted in over 20,000 citations.
He is the recipient of UToledo’s Outstanding Scholarly and Creative Activity Award, President’s Award for Excellence in Grantsmanship and Excellence in Sponsored Research Award.
“I am deeply honored to have been recognized as a Distinguished University Professor here at The University of Toledo. The support of my colleagues in nominating me, of external colleagues in their support and of the broader Academic Honors committee in their selection, all means a great deal to me,” Ellingson said. “I feel fortunate to have been able to develop my academic career within the community of UToledo’s Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, which stands as one of the nation’s strongest solar cell R&D institutes. My long-standing dedication to local, national and global environmental stewardship aligns well with my career activities in solar energy research and education, and over the past 16 years, UToledo and my colleagues have fostered considerable growth in my expertise, knowledge and perspective.
“My growth as an educator and research scientist has derived from numerous key elements — including Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s long-standing support for UToledo and for renewable energy; PVIC’s highly collaborative approach to research and education; strong student commitment at the graduate and undergraduate level; a uniquely beneficial sabbatical opportunity with EPFL’s PV-Lab (directed by Christophe Ballif) in 2015; a growing partnership with First Solar (a national treasure in the field of solar energy); and an opportunity for community engagement through Glass City Community Solar (led by John Kiely), a charitable nonprofit working to bring the knowledge and benefits of solar energy to Toledo’s low income community. I look forward to continued engagement, as I work to grow along with our students through society’s transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources.”
Rees
Rees joined the faculty of the then Medical College of Ohio as an assistant professor in the Department of Urology in 1999 and was promoted to associate professor in 2007 and to professor in 2008.
His research interests include kidney-paired donation, transplant immunology, immunosuppression, xenotransplantation and value-based healthcare, and he has received numerous grants totaling millions of dollars including grants from the Echoes of Lasting Peace Foundation, the NIH, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Stanford Impact Lab, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Corporation, Novartis, the Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Center for Innovative Immunosuppressive Therapeutics.
Rees mentored three Ph.D. students in xenotransplantation immunology, all of whom have gone on to successful careers in the health sciences and he has trained more than 50 urologists. He has obtained four patents related to his work in transplantation methods, one of which has led to a 30% increase in the supply of deceased donor livers in Europe, and he has written more than 100 publications and book chapters. These publications include: “Nonsimultaneous Extended Altruistic Donors” an idea that has lead to an additional 20,000 living donor kidney transplants around the world, “Delayed Renal Transplant Function,” “Immunological Effects of Hepatic Xenoperfusion” and “Strategies to Increase the Donor Pool.”
His numerous awards and commendations include attending the 2012 Nobel Prize ceremony at the invitation of his mentor for his UToledo-sponsored 2016-2017 sabbatical, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Alvin Roth, the Medal of Excellence from the American Association of Kidney Patients, the Governor’s Award from the National Kidney Foundation, and he was named an American Society of Transplantation’s New Key Opinion Leader.
Rees has given lectures and seminars in France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, South Korea, Switzerland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, India and the Philippines, and he served a three-year fellowship at Cambridge University, where he trained as a multi-organ transplant surgeon under world-renowned surgeon and transplant pioneer, Professor Sir Roy Calne, as well as completing a Ph.D. in xenotransplantation immunology.
“I have been fortunate to be supported by The University of Toledo since 1996 when the Medical College of Ohio made it possible for me to obtain a Ph.D. in immunology and a fellowship in transplant surgery at Cambridge University prior to my arrival in Toledo in 1999,” Rees said. “Transplantation is the great team sport. I am honored to have been chosen for this award, and I am grateful to all those who have trained me, the University of Toledo and Medical Center, the teams that have supported me, and the grant agencies and philanthropists who have supported my dreams over the course of my career.”
Distinguished University Lecturer
Kistner
The 2025 honor was awarded to Michael A. Kistner, a senior lecturer in the Department of World Languages and Cultures in the College of Arts and Letters.
“The Distinguished University Lecturer is an honor reserved for our most dedicated educators who consistently display a commitment to provide our students with a world-class education,” Molitor said. “Prof. Kistner has earned this recognition because of his passion for teaching and because of his impact on the lives of our students.”
Kistner became a lecturer at the University in 1997 and achieved the rank of senior lecturer in 2004. He received UToledo’s Outstanding Teacher Award in 2022.
He received multiple grants from the Foy & Phyllis Penn Kohler Fund for International Studies and took several groups of UToledo students to study abroad in Toledo, Spain.
Kistner was elected numerous times to represent his college on the Faculty Senate and has served on its Executive Council and has served several years as a member of the Daniel E. Quilter Scholarship Committee, as the faculty coordinator for the ESTO (Espanol en Toledo) Summer Study Abroad Program and as chair of the Student Grievance Council.
“I am truly appreciative and honored to have been named a Distinguished University Lecturer. In my nearly 31 years at The University of Toledo, I have had the pleasure of working with some outstanding lecturer faculty within my department and across multiple colleges,” Kistner said. “The students, however, have been my support all along this journey. Having the opportunity to share both language and culture in and out of the classroom has allowed me to watch the students grow in ways they never expected — especially those who joined me on study abroad programs in Toledo, Spain. My ultimate goal in the classroom is to show the students they are part of something bigger than themselves, and to help them learn from their successes and their failures as they shape their own lives.
“My thanks go out to all the students who have passed through my classrooms, the faculty who supported me along the way and the community here at The University of Toledo.”
