Thomas Gufrey, a chemistry lecturer at Cal State Long Beach, was recently chosen as one of America’s top-notch undergraduate professors in The Princeton Review’s “The Best 300 Professors.”
In partnership with ratemyprofessors.com, The Princeton Review selected outstanding professors at 122 colleges.
The selection was based on data collected from students at thousands of colleges nationally about their classroom experiences and assessment of their professors’ teaching ability and accessibility.
Gufrey, who has been teaching for 35 years at CSULB, also received honors in 2011, when he ranked No. 25 among more than a million professors nationwide on ratemyprofessors.com.
“I always say if I get an award for one of the best professors, something is wrong with education,” Gufrey said. “There are many people probably equally deserving or more deserving. I can think of many of my colleagues. They probably do a better job than I do but just aren’t well-known enough.”
Teaching Chemistry 100 for most of his career, one of Gufrey’s biggest obligations is to help students get excited about chemistry.
“When people think about chemicals, [they associate it with] dirty words, poison, nuclear radiation … but that’s such a small part,” Gufrey said. “Chemistry is so good overall. Our life is so much better because of chemistry.”
There are several ways Gufrey sparks student interest in chemistry. He places importance on always treating students with respect, welcoming students to participate, doing demonstrations in class and pointing out life examples.
“I try to throw in some humor,” Gufrey said. “Use of humor is good because it keeps people awake. In fact, another thing that I do in class is I do songs that I change to make them relate to chemistry.”
Students say Gufrey is one of their favorite teachers.
“He is goofy,” said Jeff Gance, a junior double majoring in criminal justice and German. “For a chemistry teacher, you would expect someone who is very sophisticated and someone who is serious. In a way, he is but he’s goofy about it, which is the best part about his class.”
Another enthusiastic student from Chemistry 100, who has become a fan of chemistry because of Gufrey, strongly recommended Gufrey’s classes.
“He does a lot for us,” said Andrew Quesada, freshman political science major. “He makes it easier to understand and he is just an upright guy overall.”
In addition, referring to himself as an old man with life experiences, Gufrey said he tries to give students life lessons in general, in addition to teaching chemistry.
“Yes, chemistry is very important, and I need to show them how chemistry is very good, but the most important thing in life is to be a good person and treat other people kindly,” Gufrey said. “That’s what really matters. It is so important to realize we live in such a great free country, and we must all be very grateful.”
Gufrey said he became so fond of teaching chemistry and working with young people over the past 35 years at CSULB that he cannot even imagine how his life would be without teaching.
“I love being at Cal State Long Beach, and I hate to think that one day I’ll have to stop,” Gufrey said. “As long as I am healthy and able to come and work here, I love the idea of working with young students so I stay young at heart.”