Excellence in Teaching: Ann Lousin

Each year, UIC honors some of its most dedicated and outstanding teachers with the Award for Excellence in Teaching. The winners, who receive a $5,000 salary increase, are selected by past recipients of the award from nominations made by departments and colleges.

Ann Lousin
Professor of Law
UIC School of Law

Years at UIC: 50

What courses do you teach, and what topics do you find most engaging or meaningful to teach?
For the past several years, I have taught Sales Transactions (a course on the Uniform Commercial Code), Contracts I, Contracts II and a seminar on the Illinois Constitution. In the past, I also taught Legislation and Secured Transactions.

I was brought to the law school to teach about legislation and the Illinois Constitution, but given sales due to staffing needs. I specialize in the Illinois Constitution, but it is not a big enrollment course. I have taught sales about a hundred times now; it is “my course.” Of course, teaching contracts to brand-new students is proving very rewarding.

What do you hope students take away from your courses?
I always hope they realize that they must be the best lawyers they can be because somebody, usually a client, really depends on them. Most of my course assignments involve close reading of statutes, which means I emphasize how to read a statute.

What do you enjoy most about teaching at UIC?
First, last and always: a new crop of students every semester. The course materials change every year, but I know what’s in the courses pretty well. The students are brand new to the courses. I always say that they are “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” When I see their faces light up because they have understood something, it is most gratifying.

What advice would you give to students interested in teaching careers?
My primary advice is, don’t do this just to be a research scholar. Your primary purpose is to help the students learn a topic, and if you don’t like working with them on that endeavor, you should not go into teaching.

What’s something you’ve learned from your students over the years?
That everyone is different, and every student learns differently from everyone else. Some prefer structure, others are free-wheeling in their approach; some prefer learning by reading, while others need a classroom where they can see and hear.