Undergraduate Studies and the Office of Advising and Academic Services has named Kevin E. Grisham, assistant professor in the geography and environmental studies, as Cal State San Bernardino’s 2015-2016 Outstanding Faculty Advisor.
A graduate of CSUSB (criminal justice, 1997), Grisham has been a member of the geography and environmental faculty since 2013. He serves as faculty advisor to the award-winning Model United Nations and Model Arab League programs at CSUSB, both arguably among the best in the world.
Grisham also is responsible for the development of his department’s global studies track, and handles the advising responsibilities for all students who declare a major or minor in that area.
“I love what I do because I get to work with students every day,” Grisham said in a video interview. “At the end of the day, as we often say hear at Cal State San Bernardino, it’s all about the students.”
In addition to their regular load of teaching, grading papers, tutoring and mentoring, a select group of faculty has also taken on the responsibility of advising CSUSB’s students.
“Time and time again these faculty advisors have been that extra push to help our students to become all that they endeavor to be and more,” according to a statement on the CSUSB Advising and Academic Services website on Outstanding Faculty Advisors.
The Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award is given annually to a faculty member selected by a university committee coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Selection criteria includes: demonstration of a caring attitude toward students; effective interpersonal skills; availability to students; frequency of contact with students (advisement load); and seeking out students in informal settings.
Past Outstanding Faculty Advisor recipients are:
- 2015: Dany Doueiri, world languages and literature
- 2014: Donna M. Garcia, psychology
- 2013: Mark Agars, psychology
- 2012: David Baker, public administration
- 2011: Asma Taha, nursing
- 2010: Katherine Thomerson, liberal studies
- 2009: Tom Provenzano, theatre
- 2008: Salvador Murguia, sociology
- 2007: Zahid Hasan, mathematics
- 2006: Hosung So, kinesiology
- 2005: Lynne T. Diaz-Rico, language, literacy and culture, and Mary Fong, communication studies
- 2004: Josephine Mendoza, computer science
- 2003: Dorothy Chen-Maynard, health science
- 2002: Louis Downs, education
- 2001: Margaret Doane, English and Linvol Henry, accounting
- 2000: Gerald Thrush, biology
- 1999: Joanna Worthley, psychology
- 1998: Ralph Salmi, political science
- 1997: Dennis Pedersen, chemistry
- 1996: Mary Kornguth, nursing
For more on the award, go to the CSUSB Advising and Academic Services website on Outstanding Faculty Advisors.