Extraordinary faculty, everyday impact

Ask any IU Kokomo graduate what made their college experience unforgettable, and you'll likely hear the same answer: our faculty.

From nursing to education, IU Kokomo professors are shaping the next generation of leaders and innovators every day. Meet Erin Geiselman, Mark Meng, and Lina Rifa, three IUK educators whose passion for their fields, and for lifelong learning continues to spark curiosity and confidence in our students..

Inspiring students by example

When Erin Geiselman tells her students they can overcome anything, she speaks from personal experience.

Geiselman, associate professor of nursing, first enrolled at IU Kokomo right after graduating from high school in 1993, but failed out. Discouraged, she moved on to a part-time job as a newspaper designer and feature writer, got married, and started her family.

Nearly 10 years later, she plucked up the courage to return and received academic forgiveness to drop the Fs from her transcript. She took her second chance seriously and earned her Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) with distinction. Inspired by her success, Geiselman continued her education, earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degrees from IU Kokomo, and then a Doctor of Nursing Practice. She's currently the program director for the non-nurse practitioner track of the MSN program.

Now, she shares her story of persistence with her students, encouraging them never to give up.

"You can come back from anything," she said. "I tell everyone my hardest degree was the ASN, because I finished it. I wasn't a finisher the first time around. This time I was, and I worked the hardest for it. I keep that transcript and show it to my children and my students."

Geiselman was a well-respected quality nurse at Ascension St. Vincent when she applied for a faculty position, and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to leave the hospital. She decided to make the change when she saw the opportunity to grow future healthcare professionals prepared for evidence-based nursing.

"I had a lot of background in performance improvement, quality, and safety leadership to bring to the table," she said. "I was very passionate about growing future leaders who cared about promoting change that's evidence-based and not 'throw a noodle at the wall and see if it will stick.' If you get to the root of the problem, you won't break more things trying to fix them. I believe boosting future nurse-leaders on my shoulders to do the job they were called to do is my vocation."

She's proud to have two of her three children enrolled and succeeding at IU Kokomo - son Christian in the NMAT program, and daughter Elizabeth in nursing.

Geiselman said Crystal Vice, one of her recent students, described IU Kokomo as her Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing who was known as "the lady with the lamp" for carrying a lamp on her nightly rounds caring for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.

"It lit the way for me, but I did the work," she said, quoting Vice. "I think that is the best way to describe what IU Kokomo has done for me. I will forever be grateful, and it is a privilege to be here."

Making the world his classroom

Mark Meng arrived at Indiana University Kokomo at just the right time.

The campus was just beginning to offer classes in hospitality and tourism management, and the Kokomo Experience and You (KEY) program was in its beginning stages.

"I felt lucky to have come here at the right time," said Meng, associate professor of hospitality and tourism. "I believe the KEY program is embedded in our DNA. It allows us to teach both inside and outside the classroom."

He's led students on field trips both near and far, with destinations including Kokomo Opalescent Glass, Courtyard by Marriott, the Hunt Club Distillery in Sheridan, Churchill Downs, and the Walt Disney World Resort.

These experiences are life-changing for students, he said, adding that for many, it's their first time on an airplane.

"It opens up a whole new world to them," he said. Several have been inspired to enroll in the Disney College Program for longer-term internships after the KEY trip.

"The most valuable part is they get to see Disney from a behind-the-scenes perspective," he said, noting that Disney is the gold standard for hospitality and tourism.

"They get to hear the story and experience from someone who has been with Disney for a long time," Meng said. "It gives them a holistic experience from a career development perspective."

Traveling also provides opportunities for students to find where they belong among other students and strengthen relationships with their faculty.

"It's a unique opportunity to meet, talk, and get to know each other outside the classroom environment," he said. "And of course, they get to have fun and make memories."

Those kinds of interactions are what Meng enjoys most about being an IU Kokomo faculty member. And it's different from anywhere else he's taught.

"Typically, in West Lafayette, I had a class of 70-80 students," he said. "It's a very different experience of teaching when I have 20, or sometimes less than 20. It gives me more flexibility to design classes based on my experience, my students' experiences, and their preferences."

He's become an ambassador for IU Kokomo, often visiting high schools to talk to students about their future plans.

"When I was in high school, I had never stepped foot on a college campus. I had never talked with or met a college professor," Meng said. "As a professor, I love to go tell them more about what higher education is, and what their options are. I know from years of experience that many of them have never thought about college because nobody from their family or community has offered it as an option.

"I'm serving as a messenger, letting them know this is how to prepare yourself for your future, so you have no regrets."

Protecting and studying the campus's bird population

Many people outside the bird world aren't aware that one in four bird species has been lost.

Lina Rifai is working to change that statistic, one student at a time.

Rifai, associate professor of vertebrate biology, is the resident ornithologist on campus, and can often can be found near the Well House catching, banding, and releasing birds, capturing data to track their movement and migration. Under her leadership, IU Kokomo earned certification as a Bird Campus USA for its commitment to environmental sustainability and improving habitats for birds.

She involves her classes and individual students in this work, teaching them about birds hands on - and helping them find a place to belong on campus.

"A lot of them, after a class with me or doing research with me, are more aware of what the dangers are to our bird species," she said. "That's not the only group of wildlife conservationists are working with, but birds make a good ambassador species because they are attractive and easy to see."

Rifai has several students who have worked with her on longer-term research projects, including bird banding and butterfly banding, and built friendships around those common interests.

"They've found a community to be part of," she said. "It's important for them to have a sense of belonging. They've developed their own mentoring program when they get to know each other. Those who have graduated are still coming back and are connected to the students who are still here."

Rifai's interest in birds began when she was an undergraduate student involved in research that used owl pellets as a source for biodiversity studies. Her career plan at that time was to work in some field related to orcas.

"It was my first encounter with a barn own that was on campus," she said. "As I walked by, it was love at first hiss. They don't make very nice sounds. I didn't know much about birds, so it forced me to read up on owls."

Her Ph.D. advisor also worked with birds, and part of her dissertation was related to ornithology.

As a certified bird bander, she researches the diversity of songbirds on the IU Kokomo campus, and their migration patterns. She's also one of three Indiana-based bird banders who have been looking for wood thrushes in the state for Audubon Indiana's Chasing Melody Project, part of a national effort to capture, band, tag, and release more than 1,000 wood thrushes, a species that has declined at least 59 percent since 1970 due to urbanization, pollution, and habitat loss.

More recently, she's monitored the campus monarch butterfly population with a freshman biology class as part of Monarch Watch, a citizen science project hosted by University of Kansas.

"We talk about conservation and how everyone can be involved," Rifai said. "As citizen scientists, they can contribute to real research. Hopefully, they will like it and continue it."

Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.