Student Praise
Christina Homrighouse of ILR was named today as number one among Cornell's "10 Best Professors" in a feature published by the Business Insider and Rate My Professor websites.
Rankings based on a Rate My Professor algorithm of student reviews are posted on Insider this way: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-best-professors-at-cornell-university-2013-10.
The feature kicked off with Stanford University’s Top 10 in October.
Excerpts of student comments selected for Homrighouse included:
"Prof H. was so interested in getting everyone on board and learning, that it was refreshing to wake up that early and go to class! She really has an interest in students' learning ..."
"She's always willing to help ... and going to her for help isn't intimidating ... she understands some peeps may be a bit tech stupid. Overall, she rocks! Definitely take her!"
Homrighouse has been teaching desktop applications such as PowerPoint, HTML and Excel, along with presentation skills, for 13 of her 25 years at Cornell.
"I just want people to learn," she said. A student explained her style in nine words: "She takes stuff that's boring and makes it fun."
When another student remarked that continually teaching the same courses must be boring, Homrighouse replied, "But, it's not the same students."
Homrighouse never expected to teach.
"Right time, right people," she sighs happily, explaining a whirlwind that began with dual degrees in psychology ("my first love") and business at Ithaca College and led to a Cornell career.
Homrighouse credits her mother and the Polish-born grandmother she called "Babcia" (BAHP-chee is Polish for "grandmother") with her ability to present content to students in ways that speed learning.
Her mother was good at explaining things and her grandmother made sure she was at ease in front of a crowd; Homrighouse was a liturgical lector at church before she hit middle school.
She also teaches at Johnson and the Hotel School, manages ILR's computer lab in the basement of Ives Hall and is a career sounding board for students requesting resume critiques and mock interviews.
To boot, Homrighouse is a student herself.
She expects to graduate from ILR in 2015 with a MILR -- a master's degree of industrial and labor relations.