 “Dr. Torstrick was instrumental in my decision to hang in there and finish my degree.” — Kim Brown, former student |
Imagine a course where many students confess to being ambivalent or even hostile about the subject matter. Then consider that the title of the class is “People and Cultures of the Middle East,” and it is the semester following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. While this may sound like the script for a teaching nightmare, it was a real scenario for Rebecca Torstrick, professor of anthropology at Indiana University South Bend.
The odds of those same students singing their teacher’s praises at the end of the class might seem dismal, but Torstrick’s students did just that. As one student said in a course evaluation, “I wasn’t even sure about taking this class… but I have really enjoyed it and will leave knowing it was time well spent.”
Torstrick stresses critical thinking and writing skills, active student participation, and assignments that bridge the gap between theory and research. She also works to break stereotypes that students might have of cultures different from their own. “I do not recall one student leaving that class with the same stereotypes and biases they may have entered with,” said Rod Thompson, an IU South Bend Student Government senator.
Torstrick’s teaching excellence has been recognized with several awards, including the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (2000), a Trustees Teaching Award (2002), and the IUSB Distinguished Teaching Award (2003). She was elected to the prestigious Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching in 2001.
Her capacity for service to the academic community is equally expansive, and her research informs her teaching. Torstrick is on the board of the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology and is a member of the American Anthropological Association, and served as co-chair of the Academic Excellence Task force at IU South Bend. She developed a minor in anthropology for IU South Bend and has been active in building a major and minor in women’s studies. She has published and presented widely on such topics as the Egyptian women’s movement, the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, interdisciplinary innovation in education, and the connections between state and domestic violence.
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