Professor Jeff Bernstein, Political Science
Interviewed by EMU Honors Student Jared Clayton Brown
Education has always been an important part of Dr. Jeff Bernstein’s life.
As the son of an elementary school teacher mother and social studies teacher father, one could almost assert that Bernstein was destined to blaze his career path somewhere in the field of education.
Bernstein says it was an honor to be named as a recent Honors College Faculty of the Year.
He said, “It was a wonderful honor. It was special to be nominated by the students who nominated me. These were special students.”
Bernstein also said, “It was a thrill to win.”
The political science professor says he tries to teach students that they are valuable members of society via political science.
Bernstein says, “I want students to understand that they have a role to play in the political system and that they can play that role.”
Bernstein adds, “A lot of my teaching is geared towards giving them their tools.”
Bernstein himself began to amass his own tools for success by earning his Bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis.
Bernstein then obtained more tools of his own from the University of Michigan, where he earned both his Master’s degree and PhD in political science.
Bernstein is the professor for the honors course “Methods of Political Research.”
On teaching honors courses, Bernstein said, “ I have really made these classes self-directed and professionalized.”
One of the lessons Bernstein completed with his class of seven students was to compile information that showed how much diversity could be found within EMU’s Honors College. Over the course of the semester, the class of only seven students produced more than seventy pages of information.
Bernstein explained why he had his class complete such a challenging assignment.
He said, “I want them to have an appreciation to all sides of an argument or issue. I also want them to focus on finding the better answer to a problem.”