“It’s like a lab,” says Riggsbee, whose prowess earned her the Trinity College Distinguished Teaching Award. “When looking at plans for my class sessions, I think about the strategies that I can use to motivate and engage students. I feel constantly challenged to teach content while demonstrating innovative teaching practices.”

That means that her students might hear a lecture, break into small groups to discuss key points, prepare an activity for application in the public school classroom, take part in a student-led seminar to debate issues related to public education, and participate in a reflective session to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching methods – all in one 2 1/2 –hour class.

“We’re applying these methods to our own content, with the ultimate goal of application in the schools,” Riggsbee says.

Her students say it works. “Not once did I have to ask myself what great teaching looked like, because the answer was right in front of me,” student Amy Hamilton wrote in a letter of support for the teaching award.

In his letter nominating Riggsbee for the award, Harris Cooper, director of the Program in Education, said, “She is a tireless and exceptional educator…I believe there is no other faculty member in the college who spends more time and effort, and does so more effectively, than Jan Riggsbee in educating Duke’s undergraduates.”

Riggsbee describes her work as a “mission,” and part of that is serving as a mentor to her students outside the classroom. Program graduate Jan Scott Farmer noted in her support letter that Riggsbee also helped students by “hosting dinners, emailing current events in education, and finding books that I could use in my class.”

This summer, Riggsbee is mentoring students from Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill who created “Student U,” a summer program for Durham Public Schools students held at Durham Academy. The program provides a six-week summer school and ongoing tutoring and mentoring for middle school students, provided by college and high school students.

Dan Kimberg, who graduated from Duke in May, says Riggsbee was one of the first people he told about his dream to create Student U.

“She’s the real deal,” he says. “She is one of my great friends and mentors in this world. She’s truly an incredible person.”

Riggsbee agreed to be on the Student U advisory board, helped create their training program for the student instructors and is working as a teacher mentor this summer.

“Jan has been such a support from the first time I told her the dream I had,” Kimberg says.

Although Riggsbee is teaching undergraduates now, her background is in public education. She started teaching in 1975, and has been a classroom teacher and school administrator, most recently serving as Head of Triangle Day School, an independent K-8 school in Durham, from 1999 to 2002 while on leave from Duke.

“Teaching has been my life,” she says. Even as a university professor, she is thinking about the children that eventually will benefit.

“Our [Duke] students are so bright. They’re leaders,” she says. “It’s a way for our graduates to make a difference in public education.”

That dedication to the classroom also has led her to support teachers in the Durham Public Schools. In 2006 she was named director of Duke’s Academically/Intellectually Gifted Licensure Program (AIG), which offers elementary, middle, and high school teachers training and a license in teaching gifted children. She also works with Duke’s Center for Teacher Learning and Collaboration, which offers support and training to mid-career teachers in the Durham schools.

But Riggsbee says the real measure of her success is how well her students are doing. She proudly reports that Farmer was nominated for Teacher of the Year at Club Boulevard Humanities Magnet in Durham after just one semester of fulltime teaching.

“Their success makes me feel successful,” Riggsbee says. “What could be more important than empowering undergraduates to make a difference in the lives of children?”