Montes Recognized for Teaching Excellence

During the 2024 Commencement celebrations, Dr. Guillermo Montes was honored with one of the University’s most prestigious teaching honors.

Montes, a professor in the executive leadership doctoral program, was given the Award for Teaching Excellence at the graduate level. The Awards for Teaching Excellence are chosen by students and are given annually to full-time faculty members for outstanding work in the classroom. Award recipients must demonstrate thorough knowledge of their subject matter, solid preparation for class, clear and effective communication, and genuine enthusiasm for their job.

Montes teaches doctoral-level leadership and research methods courses in the program, conducts research, supervises doctoral students in field-based experiences, provides dissertation advisement for doctoral students, and chairs dissertation committees that study contemporary educational or leadership issues employing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. He has an extensive background in quantitative research methods and evaluation.

“Dr. Montes has been an integral part of the DEXL program. He is knowledgeable, engaging, and supportive,” wrote one student in a letter nominating Montes for the award.

Another added, “His classroom is a space where students feel valued, respected, and encouraged to express their ideas. Dr. Montes goes above and beyond to create an atmosphere that nurtures intellectual curiosity, enabling students to engage deeply with the subject matter. Dr. Montes is an outstanding educator whose impact on students and the educational community is immeasurable.”

In addition to teaching at Fisher, Montes served as a senior research associate at the University of Rochester and Children’s Institute from 2006 to 2020. Prior to that role, he was chair of the Economics Department and associate professor of economics at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. Early in his career, he also taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo and the State University of New York Brockport.

At Fisher, he has served on several committees, most recently as a member of Executive Leadership Curriculum Re-Design Team and the University’s AI Policy Recommendation Subgroup. He has also published myriad research articles, book chapters, and reports. In addition, he has served as a reviewer for peer reviewed publications including Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, JAMA – Pediatrics, Computational Economics, and the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, to name a few.

Montes received his Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in economics from the University of Rochester. His research interests include studying health and educational services for children with autism spectrum disorders and/or ADHD in school and community settings using large scale nationally representative datasets. He has published the results of his research in a number of prestigious peer-reviewed journals and had support for his research from national and state grants.