Though they may have had their homework, students walking into Dr. Irina Stakhanova’s class can be assured that she won’t be sticking to the book.

Irina — lecturer and advisor in the German, Russian and East Asian Languages department — was named the 2002 recipient of the Master Teacher Award.

Her unorthodox teaching methods and extreme concern for her students earn her praise.

“Irina would seriously bend over backwards for one of her students,” senior Alex Cuic, Russian and international business major, said. “She’s like a mom away from home to some of her Russian students.”

For 21 years, the Student Alumni Association (SAA) has sponsored this award, which is purely driven by student nominations.

To be eligible for the award, professors must have taught a minimum of five years full time at the University and must possess the nine qualities deemed worthy of a “master teacher.”

According to Jessie Potter, Master Teacher Chair, Irina made herself stand out during the interview process in sharing the special memories she’s had of teaching and caring for her students’ needs. Such motherly concern was one of the factors that shone through in the interview.

“It really gave us the idea of what we had in mind as someone who is a Master Teacher,” she said.

Irina, the first foreign language professor to be honored with this award, strives to know her students personally.

Teaching on a personal level, she says, is easier with smaller classes.

“I think that the nature of teaching foreign language or foreign culture is that we don’t have very big classes,” Irina said. “The priority for me is to always reach out and make sure that every single student is participating and involved in what we’re doing in the classroom.”

Despite being the advisor to the Russian Club and the only professor who teaches Russian, Irina still makes time for her students outside of class to help those who are struggling.

“She won’t rest until you understand everything,” Cuic said. “I have taken plenty of other instructors here who would care less if their students understood the material or not, and Irina isn’t one of those.”

To Irina, this is the way it should be between professors and their students.

“The only reason we’re here isn’t to write our books and papers and do our research,” she said. “The only reason we’re here is because of our students.”

Catering to her students, Irina has a teaching style all her own. “It’s different than most classes on this campus, and not just because it’s a foreign language,” junior Julia Metcalf, Russian education major, said. “She’ll revamp the lesson plan based on what our needs are and what is going on in the news in Russia.”

With dictionary in hand, Irina begins the start of her classes each semester by laying down the rules of the game.

“My students are not permitted to say ‘I’m confused,'” Irina said.

According to Irina, she doesn’t restrict the use of this phrase because she believes that students should always understand the material the first time it is presented, but rather because of the true meaning of the word.

After looking up the meaning of the word ‘confused’ Irina lets her students draw their own conclusions as to why it is forbidden in her classroom.

“After they look it up they understand that this statement is a clause, it’s a dead end,” she said. “Instead they have to say ‘I don’t understand’ and they have to come up with an explanation of what they don’t understand.”

Having her students do their own troubleshooting, Irina applies the same technique if a student gets a “C” or below on an exam.

“To me, the ability to formulate or define the problem area is 50 percent of your success,” Irina said. “Above all, I think the most important thing is to make sure that they’re not taking things for granted.”

Attending college at Leningrad State University, Irina earned her Ph.D. in philology, the study of literary texts and written records and their authenticity.

She came to the United States in 1990 to teach at the University as part of an exchange through The American Counsel of Teachers of Russian.

Though the need in the U.S. for Russian teachers was high, the growing number of foreign exchange students studying in Russia made the demand for teachers high there too.

“We always had quite an extensive number of foreign students in Russia,” Irina said. “It was profitable for Russia because students who would learn and obtain their degree in Russia, they would develop a close relationship with Russia and when they went back to their countries would continue to support Russia.”

Irina admits that, like most, she has adopted her teaching methods from an instructor she had as a student who inspired her to teach.

“In life there is one person who makes a big difference in your life,” she said. “In my life this was a high school world literature teacher.”

According to Irina, just getting into high school was challenging enough.

Students wishing to go on to higher schooling had to go through an extensive interview process and school administrators concentrated on one important part of European culture in making their decision–the content of your family library.

“I think I had read everything as far as the ‘best’ literature in the world goes by the time I went to high school,” Irina said. “But I had no idea how to work with it or analyze it.”

With help from this influential teacher, Irina understood and took his unconventional ways to heart.

“If you showed up without being ready for class and being ready to participate, he would really put you on the spot and make you feel awful,” Irina said. “But if you said something that he thought was really worth something, he would make you feel so special.”

Though perhaps his ways were a little intense, Irina pushes her students in the same way to do their homework and be prepared for class.

“She makes me want to make sure that I get everything done, because it’s almost like I’m letting her down if I don’t do it,” Metcalf said.

Taking cues from her former teacher, Irina isn’t afraid to relax and make learning fun–no matter what others may think.

“He said never to be afraid of looking silly, because if you look silly people will understand that you’re confident enough to allow yourself to look silly,” Irina said. “Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself, just get relaxed and have fun in the classroom.”