Poli Sci professor gets five stars from Honors Center

The University of Arizona's Honors Center April 10 gave Brian Crisp, who has taught at the UA since fall 1995, the Five Star Faculty Award.

"This award is a kind of feedback from the students," Crisp said. "They like the courses I teach, yet they think they are hard."

UA undergraduates nominated 30 faculty members for the award. Of the nominees, five finalists were chosen by a committee of honors program students.

Members of the committee observed each of the finalists' classrooms for one hour and gave their students a form to rate them.

"Crisp has a great rapport with his students," said Five Star Faculty selection committee member Jackie Kurtis, a molecular and cellular biology junior. "He knows all their quirks and jokes with them, and somehow manages to get everything covered in the class time without rushing it."

During the selection process, the committee also interviewed the finalists and reviewed copies of their syllabi. They also submitted a personal statement and résumé, said Alice Stilwell, Honors Center administrative associate.

"I know the observists felt he (Crisp) was a really good, interactive teacher," said selection chairwoman Billie Krebs, an anthropology senior. "Each one walked away wanting him for a teacher. He was very straightforward and honest."

Krebs said the selection team looked for the teachers' effectiveness in engaging the class and making it interesting.

"Something that really impressed me was that at least 60 to 70 percent of the students contributed something to the class, and he didn't even have to call on them," said selection committee member Kristen Gregory. "They freely volunteered."

The instructors also had to demonstrate that they would go out of their way to help students learn, Krebs said.

"One of the things I make a conscious effort at and strive for is to get away from the model of teaching where the professor lectures and tells students what's right and wrong," Crisp said. "I teach my students how to study political science and how to build their own answers."

Crisp teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses, and wants his students to understand how exciting studying political science can be.

"Political science can be very rigorous and scientific, but you can still talk about very interesting topics," Crisp said. "I try to get my students actively engaged so it's more rewarding to them and they walk away with more."

Faculty members were nominated at the end of January when the selections committee passed out nomination forms on the UA Mall and through an advertisement in the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Ballot boxes were also placed around campus.

The committee reviewed the forms and chose the finalists by the quality of the comments written about the faculty members - not by the number of individual nominations, said Krebs.

"All of our finalists were very good teachers and very nice people," said Krebs.

The five finalists included Crisp, assistant Judaic studies Professor Matt Goldish, assistant Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Professor Carolyn Porco, assistant sociology Professor Marc Schneiberg and journalism Professor Jacqueline Sharkey.

Crisp's name was added to a plaque that bears the names of all faculty award winners. At the Honors Center's banquet Thursday, the Five Star Faculty Award finalists will receive money donated by the UA Foundation.

Crisp will receive a dinner gift certificate to Anthony's in the Catalinas, donated by Roy and Sandy Wilkinshaw, parents of Honors Center alumna Lisa Hudson.