The ENF Podcast EP 1: Interview with Ashley Greulich

By Zainab Cheema 

Sometimes, you just know that you’ve met a star in the making. Ashley Greulich is a senior majoring in psychology and neuroscience at FGCU. She is one of the core pillars of the Student Faculty Partnership Program and is also involved in the medical devices industry. In this episode, I talk to Ashley about the best post-COVID teaching practices; how to build collaboration between humanities and the STEM fields; and her unique story in Higher Education. Get ready to be inspired. Here are a couple of quotes from the interview transcribed and condensed below.

Q. Ashley, when I see you and the different things that you are involved in, I see someone who loves education. I want to hear your story in your own words. Tell us your story in Education.

“I originated in New Jersey and transitioned to the Florida school system, so it was a bit of a change in the dynamic of how classrooms are set up. But I adapted. I always had a passion for science and writing. I’ve always been an active student with clubs and programs and have had a positive relationship with my teachers. Being in the classroom, being on campus, really brought me joy. It helped me connect with my community. When I began college at Orlanda, Florida, I fell in love with the classroom and material and admired the role taken by the professor to engage the students and to think and communicate within that realm of their industry. I dealt with some personal challenges though . . . While I was an A student and loved the campus, I had my own sufferings. In sophomore year, I told myself that I would take one year off, but it lasted quite longer. It wasn’t until COVID hit, nearly a decade later, that I used that as a pivot in my life and decided to reinvest in my own passions in academia. While learning more about opportunities and building connections, I saw that a PHD was a realistic path and it would help me enter into my own career of leading my own classroom.”

Q. Ashley, you are incredibly active in the community for teaching and pedagogical excellence at FGCU. You’ve worked in the Student Faculty Partnership Program in which a student works as a partner to a faculty member, observing and giving feedback on their classroom teaching. In your work for this program, who were the most effective teachers? What did they do and what did they not do?

“I would definitely say that versatility is a character trait that goes very far. Especially with COVID, everyone had to make a shift to the virtual world. With COVID and the changing dynamic through different technologies, students are learning differently. The world is different. People want to know that what they are learning in the classroom has practical applications to help solve the problems that we see all around us in the world. They are looking for the guidance from teachers to help them find their own place to be part of the solution.

We know that each student learns different. It’s already talked about in the context of different learning styles. But it also applies to how teachers teach differently in those different environments. Online versus in the classroom—it was a reality shock for many professors. Those professors who were open to changing their syllabi to make sure that their material was being learned in accordance with how it’s being taught, [were able to evolve]. On the contrary, the professors who didn’t make any changes in their syllabi and kept it as an in-person classroom saw challenges. [These included] students not grasping that material and reaching out for help, or in the worst case scenario, not reaching out for help and just giving up on themselves. 

There needs to be more emphasis on feedback. As humans, we can see when someone is sad, angry or anxious in a classroom perhaps. But online, you’re not seeing those faces. Not all the time. For the teacher, this means being ready to ask the students for feedback—individually if possible. I know it’s hard in those classrooms with 75 plus students. But if you have the opportunity to create a little poll or survey to get some feedback form students . . . and not just at the end of the semester. Ask early and ask often, how students are feeling. How they are able to manage the material not only in your classroom but [in others]? How is their load with their world? Did they have to go back to work because a parent fell ill and lost a job? Perhaps they had to pick up more responsibility or they themselves were ill. All that needs to be done is that communication. Feedback means reaching out and being that human being in the classroom.”

Q. Ashley, one of your dreams is to be a professor. I’d love to learn more about that. To give some context, the national news cycle has been covering the Great Resignation—Americans walking away from their day jobs, and teachers happen to be one of the biggest demographics in that shift. What does being a professor mean to you? Why do you still want to be a professor? Why is that still part of the dream?

“In the time that I took off, I did have the opportunity to dive into different industries including healthcare, retail and real-estate. Very diverse and different parts of the map. Within any of the roles that I held, I found the most joy in teaching [and learning]. Teaching others, helping others advance in their career, or learning how to care for the patient or learning how to sell the property. One thing that I did not enjoy was that 9 to 5 lifestyle behind the desk. My mother’s generation was very much like, you find a job that has health insurance. You stick to it. It doesn’t matter if you are sad. Your bills are paid and you have health insurance.

Times are changing. People don’t want to be exhausted on the weekends. They want the energy to live their own life, live their passion and feel that their role in the company that they are working for is having a bigger impact than making somebody else a profit. Now, there’s a transition into gig work—having multiple, different types of responsibilities, not just the same thing of crunching numbers from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. What I really enjoy about academia is that it is more than just a classroom. You have responsibilities with the university itself; administrative work; as a professor-in-training, research. I’m able to have classroom time, lab time, service learning time. It allows me to work with different types of people, different services. As my career grows, there’s different doors that can open in any one of those windows. That’s something that is really pulling me towards academia. There’s always a future in learning and growing and investing in yourself and in others.”

Listen to the Podcast To Hear the Full Interview . . . .