“Karen is the greatest professor ever. She will bend over backwards to help a student, and she (made) what could be a boring class interesting with demos and group work.”
“Karen is absolutely incredible. If you do not take a class with her you are making a mistake. Best teacher I have ever had.”
“Professor Harpp is a hard grader and assigns a challenging amount of work, but her class was my favorite of the semester. She makes the subject matter interesting, assigns creative assignments, and is always there to talk about the class or about anything else. She has a lot of passion for her work and cares a lot of her students. TAKE HER CLASS!!!”
“She’s only been here a little over a year, but she’s a phenomenal researcher and teacher,” said Mickey Gunter, department chair for geological science. “She has a real dedication for teaching and a real commitment, she works really hard for prepping classes and most importantly she really likes to teach.”
Harpp was named one of the top 300 professors by the Princeton Review for 2012, selected from a pool of more than 42,000.
“Basically I was sent an email with a little write-up and I kind of thought it was spam,” Harpp said. “I didn’t know about this project and then I realized it was legitimate and a big deal. I know so many people that I think are great teachers and I don’t think of myself that way.”
The Princeton Review selects its annual list based on reviews from Ratemyprofessor.com, and then narrows down the top 1,000 to 300 based on interviews with faculty and students from each university.
Harpp said the award is meaningful to her because she was selected by her students.
“That’s why you do this in the first place,” Harpp said. “That’s what matters.”
Harpp started teaching in 1994, and spent 12 years at Colgate University before moving to Moscow so that she and her husband could work in the same state.
“This is the first time I’ve been at a big university like this,” Harpp said. “It’s lovely and the students are nice and devoted to education.”
Simon Kattenhorn, a colleague in the department of geological sciences, said Harpp has a unique way she interacts with her students.
“I have spoken with students that had Dr. Harpp as an instructor (including at Colgate University) and it is clear that she has an enormous impact on their lives,” Kattenhorn said. “She always challenges her students to aim for excellence and commands the respect that motivates them to do just that.”
Gary Williams, a professor in the English department, collaborated with her last fall to try and link two of their courses. Although the student overlap did not work out, Williams said he was wowed by her extent of knowledge and resources.
“She also had gratifyingly high expectations for student performance in her class,” Williams said. “Plus, as a person, she has a blend of intensity and wit that must be very effective in class discussions.”
Harpp also worked with the University Honors Program, where Director Stephan Flores said students expressed great enthusiasm for her teaching.
“They note her close attention to students as individuals, praise her academic expertise as well as her ability to engage students to strive to do their best work, and appreciate the value that she places on students’ perspectives and personal development,” Flores said. “She is noted for her strengths at facilitating discussion, at including physical demonstrations of the scientific principles studied, and her collaborative, collegial interest to bring other professors into the course to enrich the class and students’ education.”
Harpp said she has a hard time accepting prizes and awards, and tries to keep a low profile. Her students who rated her on ratemyprofessor.com have high recommendations for her.
Harpp said she wants to find ways to teach the material that students will enjoy, including lots of hands-on work.
“I always say it’s better to learn by doing,” Harpp said. “It’s using applied science and how it applies to things every day.”
Gunter said the university and its students are lucky to have her.
Katy Sword can be reached at [email protected]