By Sheri Alzeerah

At first glance, Associate Professor of Anthropology Chris Kirk has a typical professor’s office complete with rows of filing cabinets, a desk caked with paperwork, framed diplomas, shelves bulging with books and a lunch packed in Tupperware. Upon closer scrutiny, Kirk’s office reveals characteristics unlike other professors’: posters depicting lemur species, a primate-themed calendar, a “happy folder” containing thank-you notes and, most importantly, an oversized check for $25,000 leaning modestly against a wall.

Chris Kirk

On April 12, the Friar Society presented Kirk with the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, a $25,000 award granted to a tenured or tenure-track undergraduate professor at UT each year. It is the University’s most prominent award for undergraduate teaching excellence and serves two purposes: $21,000 supplements the recipient’s salary and $4,000 provides for research funding.

“I know for a fact I am not the best teacher at UT,” Kirk said. “It’s a very humbling experience for me because it makes me keep in mind my colleagues, who I know to be excellent teachers, who haven’t had the good fortune of winning a Friar award.”

In February, students nominated more than 100 professors for the award, and the Friar Society’s membership ultimately decided on the winner. The Friar Society, which recognizes those who serve the campus in extraordinary ways, is an exclusive committee composed of upperclassmen selected by Friars. The Friar Society is a place where students who are likeminded meet and tackle problems, said Noble Kuriakose, sociology and religious studies senior and co-chair of the fellowship. The Society’s Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship is a way for students to give back to undergraduate professors. There is a thorough evaluation process in which Friars speak with references and students and observe classes, said Zuhair Khan, business honors finance and history senior and co-chair of the fellowship.

“The gradation is so fine between the excellent teachers,” Khan said. “If we could, we’d give out 20 of these things.”

After observing Kirk’s introduction to physical anthropology class in March, a Friar sent Kirk a special thank-you e-mail.

“I thought: There’s no way I’m going to win the Friar award this year because that’s the biggest award out there, but this [e-mail] is really nice,” Kirk said. “I’m going to print this out, and I’m going to put it in my [happy] folder.”

Little did Kirk know that he was on the brink of receiving an even bigger thank you.

Kirk was surprised with the award during his introduction in his physical anthropology class.

“Fifteen minutes into my lecture, I was so into australopithecines and teaching, that [the award] was the farthest thing from my mind,” Kirk said.

After a loud knock, the door swung open, and Friars toting balloons and flowers, reporters, colleagues and a trumpeter playing “The Eyes of Texas” flooded Jester auditorium. Initially, students were equally taken aback by the commotion, but gave him a standing ovation after the grand production, Kirk said.

Despite the fanfare, Kuriakose said the presentation should not overshadow the hard work professors do to deserve the award.

Kirk graduated from UT with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 1995 and earned his doctorate in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University in 2003. Kirk teaches three undergraduate anthropology classes (two of which result from his own ideas), leads one-on-one courses for honors theses, compares fossil primate teeth, works on micro-computerized tomography scans in the E.P. Schoch Building, and cleans and prepares fossils at the Pickle Research Campus. Kirk said his focus on sensory systems has taught him valuable teaching lessons.

“Different students are engaging with course material using different sensory systems. Educators call these ‘learning modalities,’” Kirk said. “In order to learn a piece of information, some people need to hear it in their mind’s ear. Some people need to visualize it in their mind’s eye. Some people need to touch it with their mind’s fingers.”

Photo Marsha Miller

By turning his classes into “multimodal experiences,” students learn with deeper and faster comprehension, Kirk said.

In addition to Kirk’s teaching method, students are drawn to his energy.

It is impressive and almost exhausting being engaged by his liveliness, Khan said in reference to Kirk’s evaluation day.

For Kirk, however, this ability comes naturally.

“It is hard not to get an electrical charge from getting up on a stage in front of 220 students,” Kirk said.

Anthropology and psychology senior Elissa Ludeman signed up for Kirk’s introductory anthropology class her sophomore year.

“All it took was that first lecture, and I was completely taken with both the field and Dr. Kirk’s teaching style,” Ludeman said. “His enthusiasm and charisma during lectures are nothing short of infectious.”

Ludeman and Parham Daghighi, anthropology senior, took all three of Kirk’s courses.

“He’s got one of the most flamboyant styles, but in the best possible way. He’s loud and has a lot of motions, but he’s not fake at all. His knowledge of the subject matter is immaculate,” Daghighi said.

Kirk knows that if the excitement is contagious, the information will stick with the students. He has learned over the years that level of interest is critical to learning.

“It’s not a business. Students aren’t paying you a fee for a service. Students are paying you for the opportunity to learn something,” Kirk said.

Kirk’s manner of helping students extends to his annual fieldwork in West Texas, where he takes students who are passionate about physical anthropology. Kirk said that the $4,000 in research money will be used for four more years of fieldwork, as a way to pay back society for its generosity.

“In the course of a day at the field site, he explained the evolutionary history of Leptoreodon to us, gave us a debriefing on the geologic history of the canyon, taught me how to tie down lines so my tent didn’t fly away in the night winds, told a joke and then a ghost story, then breaks out cookies for the wind-burned and cold crew,” Ludeman said.

Despite his heavy focus on fieldwork and research, Kirk said that he did not expect to win, given the fact that he has only been teaching at UT for seven years.

“I don’t know a whole lot about the Friar Society’s criteria, but apparently the number of years you’ve been teaching isn’t one of them,” Kirk said.

Kuriakose said that though some Friar Society awardees are toward the end of their long careers, the society felt the need to recognize Kirk for his incredible impact in seven years.

“This award is for undergraduate professors who show extraordinary skill and extraordinary passion for their job, and I thought that from having known him all that time, he was the perfect candidate,” Daghighi said. “He seemed to fit the bill.”

The Carnegie Foundation classifies UT as a RU/VH Research University for its very high research activity. Kirk said that it’s encouraging for him to see how many excellent teachers are at a research-intensive university.

“You want to be at a school where your professors are at the forefront of that research,” Kirk said. “It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the central mission of the University of Texas is to educate.”

Kirk’s students, however, never lose sight of that fact.

“I have never known a professor to not only have such great teaching talent but to also reach out to his students in the way the Dr. Kirk does,” Ludeman said.

Although Kirk is only seven years into his career at UT, he already has the future in mind.

“Nothing would make me happier than to be here at UT, have a 50-year career and retire [as] an old doddering professor,” Kirk said. “You know, it’s my dream job.”