Associate Professor Gary McKissick has been chosen by the TCU Senate Education Committee as 2006 Professor of the Year, due to "his ability to use creative methods to bring complicated materials to life, his individual attention to students, and his passion for the subject."
McKissick is an associate political science professor and an associate director for the community health program. He specializes in the study of the ways in which "democratic societies define and solve problems" with an emphasis on public policymaking and healthcare.
Although University faculty and administration deliver most other types of faculty recognition, the Professor of the Year award is unique because it is administered entirely by the TCU Senate, an all-student organization.
According to Michael Eddy, the chairperson of the Senate Education Committee, the award represents an opportunity for students to "give back to professors who go above and beyond the call of teaching."
"It's an opportunity ... for students to recognize a professor that has made a difference in the lives of other students," senior and Senate President Jeff Katzin said.
Junior Jesse McCormick has taken "Healthcare in America" with McCissick and is currently taking McKissick's seminar on health politics and obesity.
"The reason I like him so much is because he makes you care about the subject; he doesn't just teach it to you," McCormick said. "He's passionate, he wants you to be passionate, and he gives you the means to do so."
According to Eddy, competition this year was stiff. There were over 40 nominations, all of whom he said were "very qualified applicants."
McKissick, however, stood out to the committee.
"From the nominations that we read, you could tell he was a very engaging professor, he was very attentive to individual students' needs, even in a large lecture class, and he also used creative ways to impart knowledge of complex issues to his class," Eddy said.
McKissick will receive his award at an open reception held in his honor at noon on Apr. 3. in the Remis Sculpture Court.
