Kevin Grisham, the faculty adviser for Cal State San Bernardino's Model United Nations and Model Arab League teams, has been honored with the Faculty Excellence in Advising Award by the California State Student Association. It is the first such award the CSSA has given. Grisham was nominated by James Fukazawa, president of Associated Students Inc. at Cal State San Bernardino. Fukazawa also was a member of CSUSB's 2010 Model UN team.

According to the CSSA minutes from its March 12 meeting, student representatives were allowed to nominate advisers from the floor. Each campus was given one minute to speak about its nominee.

Grisham, a lecturer in the political science department of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, called it "a huge honor," especially since no students outside of the CSUSB delegation knew who he was, yet they voted for him based on the CSUSB delegation's testimony.

"I'm only a part-time lecturer and it's very unusual for any lecturer, let alone a part-time lecturer, to receive an academic award from students or their peers," said Grisham, who graduated from CSUSB in 1997 with his B.A. in criminal justice. He earned his doctorate from UC Riverside.

"It validates the huge amount of commitment I put in, but it also revalidates what I've gotten from the campus as a student and as a faculty member now, and the support that I get from my colleagues and the administration," Grisham said.

The award also reinforces what he already knew about Cal State San Bernardino, first as a student and now as an instructor: that the faculty are dedicated to bringing the best out of their students. "It just shows that there is a winning formula on this campus for advising and helping students succeed," he said.

"The CSSA award recognizes the time and effort Dr. Grisham dedicates to motivating students to find their academic path, and to excel in both studies and competition," said Fukazawa.

Grisham became the Model UN/Model Arab League faculty adviser after long-time political science professor Ralph Salmi retired in 2007. Grisham was a member of Model UN teams under Salmi's direction, and since taking over in 2008, CSUSB continued to compete at a high level, earning the Model UN's top honor of Outstanding Delegation in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Overall, CSUSB has won 14 Outstanding Delegation awards in 17 years of competing against top universities from the U.S. and abroad.

In addition, the Model Arab League team took its 18th straight Outstanding Delegation honor at the West Coast Model Arab League Conference in April.

While those two programs may be the most visible to many on and off campus, his work with students in the classroom also is approached with the same amount of energy and zeal to encourage students to learn.

"Many students try to take a class with him every quarter," Fukazawa said. "He does more than just pass along knowledge. Dr. Grisham advises us on how to approach people, situations and even hundreds of pages of international documents in a way that lowers the intimidation factor and makes us more effective."

Said Grisham, "When I first came here (as a faculty member), people asked me, 'Why did you go to Cal State San Bernardino?' instead of a research institution when I came from a University of California campus. I said, 'Well, for one, I owe a lot to this campus because this is where my college career started.'

"But also, it was a natural fit for how I teach and what I believe in when it comes to academia," he said. "And as much as I like being a researcher, at the end of the day, my emphasis in working with the students is much more important, I think. And that's true of all the faculty here."

For a related article, see "A Profile in Diplomacy" at the California State University website.