Matthew Habich honored with 2023-24 Outstanding Lecturer Award

In a surprise announcement, management lecturer Matthew Habich was named the winner of Cal State San Bernardino’s 2023-24 Outstanding Lecturer Award for his contributions to CSUSB and dedication to students.

Habich was not only surprised, but he was left speechless by the honor.

“This is a business communications class, and I don’t know what to say,” quipped Habich. “I don’t know what to say except thank you for you all for this recognition. I really appreciate it. I couldn’t do it without the support of the whole college, all my colleagues, everything else.”

Habich was lecturing his class late in the afternoon of April 29 when university President Tomás D. Morales, accompanied by a group of colleagues, fellow faculty members, staff and administrators, barged into his class on the first floor of Jack H. Brown Hall to make the announcement.

Morales said it is a university tradition to present these outstanding faculty awards through a surprise declaration, where the president and fellow faculty members come right in and interrupt a classroom, lab or lecture hall to make the proclamation in front of the faculty member’s students so the students can see their professor being honored.

“This is a special occasion as we are here to present the 2023-24 Outstanding Lecturer Award to Matthew Habich,” said Morales. “He is receiving this award based on his exceptional instruction, capacity to engage his students and the extremely positive feedback he receives from those he has taught.”

The award comes with a $1,000 Faculty Professional Development Grant, being honored at the Faculty Recognition Luncheon and recognition at the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration spring commencement ceremony.

“He has taught an astounding 122 sections to date, covering nine different courses — often developing or redeveloping them,” Morales said. “They have included undergraduate and graduate, as well as face-to-face, synchronous and asynchronous online modalities.”

After congratulating Habich, Rafik Mohamed, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, made sure those in attendance, especially Habich’s students, understood the significance of the award he was receiving. Mohamed highlighted that Habich was selected out of more than 700 lecturers at CSUSB for the campuswide award.

“The competition is thick, and your professor — even if you’re iffy on him — dominated the field and is receiving this highly competitive award,” said Mohamed.

He went on to share student reviews about Habich that are posted on the website Rate My Professor, which Mohamed jokingly referred to as a “real source.” Students wrote positive comments about the lecturer on the website, which is a reoccurring theme on Habich’s teaching evaluations at CSUSB.

A student wrote, “Habich is one of the best professors to take. He’s very kind and can connect with any student. He may be scary at first but gives the best feedback. He cares about every student and will help you if you ask for it. Take him. He is one of my favorites, and he’s not boring.”

“Although it was unknown to me, it wasn’t surprising,” said JHBC Dean Tomás Gómez-Arias, who shared he didn’t know about the surprise announcement until three minutes before it took place. “I have been here for only two years, and in conversations with many of you, I have learned about the great work that Professor Habich has been doing in the classroom.”

Gómez-Arias also highlighted Habich’s contributions to the JHBC Public Speaking Center, where he serves as co-director, and the positive impact it has had on CSUSB students.  

Habich first came to CSUSB in 2013 as a full-time lecturer of management in the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration and became co-director of the Speaking Center in 2018. The center supports students in becoming more confident and effective public speakers.

Habich has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in telecommunications management from Golden Gate University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

One colleague said, “(The reason for his great teaching) comes from his unwavering commitment to the students. He not only prioritizes their academic growth but also nurtures the professional development of his students inside and outside classrooms.” 

The committee itself also noted that, while relatively modest service is expected of lecturers based on their enormous teaching loads, some lecturers defy those expectations. “By any standard, Professor Habich has a service record that would make most tenure-track faculty envious,” they said.

One nominator wrote, “He is the founding co-director of the JHBC Public Speaking Center, helping hundreds of students improve their public and professional speaking skills since the establishment of the center.”

The committee said that the center has been a remarkably successful innovation, which his college publicly boasts about as an area of excellence.

The 2023-24 committee is headed up by co-chairs Stuart Sumida (biology) and Montgomery Van Wart (public administration). Other members include Shafiq Rahman (representing the College of Arts and Letters), Ghulam Sarwar (representing the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration), Christopher Gentry (representing the College of Natural Sciences) and Thomas Long (representing the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences).

In Habich’s teaching evaluations, students repeatedly use expressions like “super organized,” “immediately useful,” “practical,” “he really cares about us,” “makes learning so fun,” “you can tell he’s passionate about what he teaches” and “really focused on our success.” He gets many “excellents,” “best instructor at CSUSB that I’ve had” and the all-inclusive “awesomes.”

On a scale of one through six, his students give him a 5.7.

Habich is the previous recipient of the 2016-2017 JHBC Lecturer Award.