Society-Ready Graduates

Bring The Private Sector Into The Classroom

Issue (Who cares and why?)
      There is a serious and well-publicized shortage of qualified teachers all across America, especially in the "hard" subject areas of math, science. And, with many teachers from the "Baby Boom"-generation planning to retire as soon as they can collect a pension, the shortage isn't likely to ease soon. One tactic increasingly used in the educational recruitment wars is to seek out science and technology professionals in leading-edge companies and bring them into the classroom. Though these recruits usually lack teaching credentials, the experience and skills many of them bring from the private sector can be invaluable.

What has been done?
      With only one faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) that specialized in horses and an ever growing call for a degree program in Equine Science, an innovative approach was needed to answer stakeholders’ requests. Local veterinarian and alumni Dr. Rebecca Frankeny, DVM was brought in to teach Equine Reproduction and Equine Diseases. Dr. Frankeny’s unique contribution came in the establishment of a training program for CE credits. Dr. Mike Kirk, DVM also a local veterinarian, opened doors to Equine Health that otherwise would not have been available to UNR students. To provide a business perspective to the program, Dr. Richard Godbee, PhD., PAS. and vice president of Evergreen Equine Products was recruited to teach Equine Nutrition and give his unique perspective on research and development.

Impact
      Counting how many student have passed through the Equine Program since its inception in 2002 are in the hundreds. But measuring the effects of first-hand knowledge on the students can be summed up by Emily Kretschmer a former student of Dr. Godbee. “Seeing Dr. Godbee’s successes in the business world and following the lines of logic in his nutrition lectures, I now want to continue education beyond a bachelors degree.”
      An unseen impact of bring professional into the classroom was altruism. One of the reason Dr. Frankey decide to return to the classroom was “training new scientists is my way of repaying my debt to the scientific community that trained me.”

Contact
Esmail Zanjani
Dept. Animal Biotechnology/202
University of Nevada
Reno, Nevada 89557
ezanjani@cabnr.unr.edu