4/5/2022 William Gillespie
Joe Barich has received the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Written by William Gillespie
"Among various teaching qualities…the most remarkable one is his enthusiasm in engaging students to participate and stimulating the students to explore. He makes difficult topics such as contracts and law enjoyable and easy to follow while being able to apply the knowledge to real-life."
—one of Joe Barich's students
Joe Barich has received the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, in appreciation and recognition of the positive impact of Lecturer Barich’s sustained excellence and innovative approaches to teaching.
Joe is loved by his students. In the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering—ISE—Barich has taught Systems Engineering 400—Engineering Law—since 2010, and has been named to the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent every single semester. He also won the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Head Teaching Award in 2016 and 2021, and was additionally recognized by the Alpha Pi Mu and Gamma Epsilon Engineering Honor Societies when he received their 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Joe’s contributions to the University of Illinois don’t stop with his great work in his home department of ISE, however. For the Technology Entrepreneur Center—TEC—Barich developed TE450—Startups: Incorporation, Funding, Contracts, and Intellectual Property – first introduced in Fall 2014. This course has also appeared on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent 10 times – almost every time it has been offered.
Both of the courses mentioned have also been offered online though the College of Engineering Online for a decade.
Finally, Barich founded and directs the Intellectual Property (IP) Clinic, a joint effort between the TEC and the College of Law. In the IP Clinic, law students perform patent and trademark services for student startup companies, and valuable experience for law students becomes valuable services for student entrepreneurs.
Congratulations, Joe! As Department Head Jeff Shamma said at the ceremony, "Your professional background and teaching effectiveness combine to the excellence this award seeks to recognize. You are loved by students. ISE and Grainger are fortunate to have you."