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Russell Conner
Russell Conner has been a part of Cranbrook Schools since 1970.
In addition to his responsibilities in the Upper School Science Department, he is the intramural biking coach. Conner has participated in numerous professional enrichment programs, including the Summer Institute on Bioethics at Princeton University, the Laboratory Safety Workshop in Boston, the Computer Equity Project for Women's Action Alliance, and the National Association of Independent Schools at Harvard. He is also an AP consultant for the College Board, and has worked with the Educational Testing Service for the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the Instrument Development Committee of National Assessment of Educational Progress. Conner earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Michigan State University. His work has appeared in many publications. Most recently, "From Mythical Monsters to Medical Miracles: Bioethics Challenges the Sciences," was published in the Cranbrook Kingswood Tradition. |
 1/23/2009 - Anne Bagamery
If a teacher can impart a love of his or her subject to a student who really isn't inclined toward that area, then that is a great teacher. Mr. Conner did that for me. I was never destined to be a biologist, and I really didn't like being in the lab (as I write this I can almost smell the rodent cages...). But Mr. Conner was patient and good-humored, had total command of his subject and his classroom, and because he so clearly loved what he was doing, you couldn't help but follow along. I'm delighted to see he is still at Cranbrook and that many more generations of students have had the benefit of being taught by him.
5/21/2006 - Magi Ringsred
Russ Connor was one of the most encouraging and cheerful teachers I had at CEC. He was generous too... he was really glad to see a couple of us had figured out the blue solution was copper sulfate...but not as impressed when he figured out we found the answer in the dictionary!
What a very, very nice guy. I wish I had had more classes than just 7th grade with him the first year he started.
3/27/2006 - Charlene Li
I agree with Carl Klemmer. Mr. Connor made biology more than the memorization of boring facts and showed that it was in reality the study of systems. That systems approach has served me well in my career, even though I no longer come anywhere near anything that's remotely biological! He also taught me to look at biology with curiosity and wonderment -- we know so much about the world around us, but at the same time, we know so little. I'll always be thankful that I had him for a teacher and I hope today's students appreciate what a truly gifted teacher he is!
3/9/2006 - Mark Frankel
Mr. Connor taugh AP Bio in my senior year. It was a class of four students. While we learned a great deal, we also had a lot of fun. Every morning we took a short break to listen to "The Adventures of Chicken Man" on WABX. My elder son starts the upper school next year, and I hope that Mr. Connor's class will be as memorable for my son as it was for me. Thanks Mr. Connor, for your dedication, and for finding a way to make Biology accessable.
2/9/2006 - Carl Klemmer
Wow, everyone seems to think Mr. Connor had a hard class! I thought he made Biology easy with great explanations, and even more memorable examples! Thanks for the memories and the eduaction, Mr. Connor.
9/11/2005 - Nathan Bethell
Russ Connor taught the hardest course that I have ever taken at any level of my education. Receiving a passing grade in Biochemistry has made me never doubt my ability to succeed in any class either at college or in graduate school.
9/11/2005 - Jean Weaver
Mr. Connor's Bio 1A course taught me how to learn, how to teach myself, how to identify what I know and what I don't know. It was without doubt, the best class I've ever had.
9/11/2005 - Eva Schulte
I am currently carrying out laboratory tests on transgenic mice for my doctoral thesis. It was within this context, a couple of days ago, when dissecting my mice in the middle of the night, that I found myself thinking back to my sophomore year biology class with Mr. Connor and our dissection of the fetal pig. And as I pondored this situation I realized that this was probably the starting point of my career in the biomedical sciences and the impetus to a yearning desire to understand how life works, even with regard to the tiniest of details.
9/11/2005 - Courtney Lower
Mr. Connor helped me learn the mastery of biological detail that helped me exempt out of 1st year biology (one of 3 students to do so out of a class of 800), this made the way to medical school a lot easier, and medical school was probably a little easier than some of his classes.
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