{"id":570,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/kukkearnsteachingexcellenceaward\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:30","slug":"kukkearnsteachingexcellenceaward","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/kukkearnsteachingexcellenceaward\/","title":{"rendered":"WestConn political science professor earns Teaching Excellence Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


\n <\/p>\n

DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 Enter any one of Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Chris Kukk\u2019s classes at WestConn, and you\u2019ll find it\u2019s anything but typical. Kukk doesn\u2019t lecture off of last year\u2019s notes or read out of a textbook. Instead, he uses his dynamic energy to engage students in debate and challenge them to think at a higher level.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest thing about teaching is the chance to read, analyze and discuss the issues of today with bright, young minds. It promotes critical thinking of those issues,\u201d Kukk said. \u201cAnd my ideal class is when someone asks me a question I don\u2019t know the answer to \u2014 someone thought outside the box. Those are the days I\u2019m walking on Cloud Nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His teaching skills and devotion to education have earned Kukk, a Fulbright Scholar who has taught at Harvard and Boston College, the university\u2019s Teaching Excellence Award. A graduate of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence School\u2019s Counterintelligence Agent Program in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Kukk earned a B.A. in Political Science from Boston University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, before going on to earn an M.A. in American and International Politics and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston College.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To say Kukk teaches political science is only scratching the surface \u2014 he incorporates history, economics and culture, to name a few, to give students the bigger picture of the world they live in. \u201cI touch on all that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to \u2014 that\u2019s what makes it come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A college professor for the better of 12 years, Kukk said that today\u2019s classroom is especially exciting because of the different ways you can reach students, thanks to myriad technological advances. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In his junior-level \u201cNuclear Non-Proliferation\u201d course, his students face off weekly with 25 students from the Geneva School of Diplomacy simulating non-proliferation treaty talks using<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

videoconference equipment. His students literally bring what they\u2019ve learned into the world, as each student represents a country \u2014 Israel, South Africa, North Korea, Iran, the United States, United Kingdom, China and France. After studying each article of the treaty, the students then argue their government\u2019s position. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing experience for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Whether a 100-level or 400-level course, Kukk said the enthusiasm is always there \u2014 every year he changes courses to meet societal changes and student demands.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never gets boring. The students always change the dynamics. And I probably shouldn\u2019t say this, but I would do this for free,\u201d Kukk said. \u201cThe passion is contagious. The hardest thing is to get that passion going and when it does, it\u2019s amazing and that\u2019s what keeps me here.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.
<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\n <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 Enter any one of Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Chris Kukk\u2019s classes at WestConn, and you\u2019ll find it\u2019s anything but typical. Kukk doesn\u2019t lecture off of last year\u2019s notes or read out …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-570","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}