Ciara (CC) Barrick Awarded Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award 2025
Rackham Graduate School’s Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards recognize the efforts and accomplishments of GSIs who demonstrate extraordinary dedication and excellence as teachers.
Ciara “CC” Barrick is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, with a research focus on the literature of modern Cyprus. In her work as a GSI, she has taught ENGLISH 125 and COMPLIT 122. Catherine Brown, our Director of Undergraduate Studies, notes that “CC’s work in the classroom centers on individual students and clearly focuses on the central values of the Humanities pedagogy, which she describes as ‘mutual preparedness, respect, and intellectual curiosity.’ She brings writers from far away into her classroom, both in person and via Zoom, making their lives real, present, and living to her students.”
The students who nominated CC confirm the department’s observations about her dedication. One student wrote, “It is easy to give out information. It is hard to teach information. It is even harder to teach new ways of thinking. Ciara accomplishes the difficulty and makes it look easy,” and goes on to say, “learning had always felt like an individual experience. Ciara showed me an entirely new world of academics. . . . Learning finally felt collaborative. She teaches how to read and write in a way that stays with you.” Another student puts it clearly: “She is exemplary of an empowering role model for her students. She teaches us to take English and make it our own.”
Congratulations, CC!
