CHAPEL HILL – Few classes in undergraduate life are as dreaded as organic chemistry. It is the gatekeeper class, the prerequisite that guards pre-med majors, pharmacy programs, and a host of other high-demand scientific fields.
“Orgo,” as students tend to call it, is rarely beloved.
Which is one of the reasons UNC Chapel Hill Chemistry Professor Michael Crimmins is such a standout in his field. Students sing the praises of his organic chemistry course not because it’s easy — it emphatically is not — but because he goes the extra mile to help them fully grasp the material.
“Dr. Crimmins is a phenomenal teacher,” wrote one student in an online forum. “He gives his students all the things they need to be successful, but they have to study and work, too. That’s just the reality with Orgo.”1
Crimmins has been helping students at all levels learn the reality of chemistry for more than 34 years. Even with the deep experience, his teaching is far from old-school. He’s widely seen as a leader at UNC Chapel Hill for classroom innovation, embracing multimedia tools and online supplements to help students through the unique challenges of the chemistry curriculum.
He was an early adopter of the ‘flipped classroom’ method, where students watch videos and multimedia tutorials on their own time and come to class for practice sessions and closer interaction with the professor.
“You really have to think very carefully and critically about the material that you are presenting and how to uncover misconceptions that students have about the material,” Crimmins told The Daily Tar Heel in 2014.
He has helped colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences experiment with similar methods in their own classrooms, part of a campus-wide effort to improve teaching in science courses with traditionally high rates of failure.
He was one of the first senior faculty members to join an initiative by the Association of American Universities to improve the quality of teaching in undergraduate STEM fields. In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Crimmins described the intense workload that comes from revamping curriculum to better align with student needs:
For the first few semesters, Crimmins said preparing to teach class this way was a lot of work. And time constraints – beyond ego or comfort – are probably the biggest barriers for professors in changing up their teaching, he said. But two years later, the investment is worth it. “I love this,” he said.
That attitude has made Crimmins a favorite among students, and earned him one of the more emphatic commendations among this year’s UNC Board of Governors Teaching Award winners.
“EXCELLENT PROFESSOR. NORMAL DUDE (which is weird for the chem dept). WOULD RECOMMEND FOR A RAISE, PROMOTION, CLONING,” wrote one student, with all-caps enthusiasm.2
Crimmins is also a well-respected researcher. He holds an appointment at UNC’s Lineberger Cancer Center, where he and his colleagues work on isolating unique chemical compounds to fight malignant tumors. He’s on the scientific advisory board for Chimerix, helping connect UNC research on antiviral medications to the Triangle’s growing pharmaceutical sector.
For Crimmins, it’s all part of bringing scientific to every aspect of his work, from the laboratory to the classroom.
1http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=254294
2http://www.northcarolina.edu/content/michael-t-crimmins
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