Reise entered the Distinguished Teaching competition with a handicap: He teaches statistics to psychology students.

 

"A very high proportion of our undergraduate majors take statistics not because they want to but because they have to, and, more importantly, they do so with real trepidation," wrote Reise's department colleagues Bruce Baker and Shelley Taylor, who nominated him for the award. "Such is Professor Reise's extraordinary gift as an instructor that, despite this disadvantage, these same students end up grasping and appreciating … and by all indications loving this course."

 

Students' glowing course evaluations back up the professors' claims: "Great professor – wish he was teaching every one of my classes," wrote one. "Your class is the best I have EVER taken," typed another.

 

Reise works hard to keep his classes engaging. Whether he's teaching his popular personality-theory class or a dreaded statistics course, he puts the focus on the students' lives.

 

"I try to make the material practically relevant," Reise explained. "That's the key to connecting to students’ lives. I'm trying to make them realize how important the topics are to them."

 

For statistics, that means not getting lost in detail, mathematical proofs and memorization, and getting students to think of stats as tools that will help them get a better answer to an interesting question. For personality theory, it's about blending discussion of the theorists around the familiarity of actual personalities.

 

"Personalities are phenomena that we notice every day," Reise said. By week 10, students are discussing happiness and life satisfaction: Is happiness biological? Changeable? Can it be learned? When course material is geared to be applicable to daily life, it's hard not to be interested, Reise said. "My goal is to show how what we're learning applies to real life."

 

Reise's work doesn't stop in the classroom. In addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, overhauling the way the entire department teaches statistics, and mentoring students and faculty alike, he is also a sought-after speaker nationwide, both by academics, professional groups and research companies.

 

"Due to his renown as a teacher, Dr. Reise is frequently invited around the world," his nominating colleagues wrote. "He has achieved a reputation for teaching people what they need to know, and delivering this material in a compelling fashion. … Although he is still quite young … he has already taught the next generation of faculty."

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