By: Katelyn Norris
This article is part of a series of profiles on the new faculty at Bellarmine University.
Bellarmine University’s College of Health Professions has introduced some new faces to their faculty over both the summer and fall semester.
Dr. Nathan Nevin is an assistant professor of physical therapy and will be teaching two courses this semester as well as assisting in service-learning courses for physical therapy majors.
Nevin received both his undergraduate and doctorate degrees from BU. He previously taught as an adjunct in the service-learning clinic and guest lectured on courses for eight years before accepting a full-time position back in January.
“I’m transitioning from full-time clinician, part time academia to now being full-time academia, part-time clinician so it’s been an interesting transition. I cannot imagine my first year teaching would look like this but sometimes you have to make the best out of whatever situation,” Nevin said.
Nevin said it’s been quite a challenge to teach his courses online this semester because of the usual hand-on nature of classes. However, he said he and others in his department spent long hours on Microsoft Teams calls to sort out how to create the best learning environments for the students.
“I think it’s a challenge for faculty to create new learning opportunities for the students due to this change. How are we going to teach this and make sure they were getting the message across?” Nevin said.
Yet one of his teaching goals for this semester is to get students excited about learning and to help them prepare for a career in physical therapy.
Erin Weidmar is a nursing instructor in the College of Health Professions. She will be teaching nutrition courses within the Lansing School of Nursing and the Exercise Science Department.
Weidmar is a registered dietitian and nutritionist, and this is her first teaching position.
“It was divine intervention, something told me to look at the Bellarmine website. I pulled up the job postings and there it was just waiting for me,” Weidmar said.
Weidmar said Bellarmine is “heaven on Earth,” and despite the ongoing pandemic situation, her students are “refreshing and fun.” According to Weidmar the faculty at BU has also been very welcoming and helpful. .
Weidmar is ready to instill a sense of passion into her students by encouraging them to find something they love.
“This is what I would want to suggest people do when they are stepping into something they want to do for a living. I am really proud that I picked something and became really good at it,” Weidmar said. “It motivates me to continue to stay up to date on what you are supposed to know.”
Dr. Julie Hartmann is an assistant professor of physical therapy. Hartmann will be teaching four courses this semester and will be assisting in the service-learning clinics.
Hartmann said being at Bellarmine has been a work in progress so far this semester. But one of the only challenges she is facing is remembering all her student’s names.
“I think it’s one of those things that’s in development. I’m getting to know student’s names, we have anywhere from 70 to 75 students per class so that’s a lot of names to learn and lot of people to get to know,” Hartmann said. “It has been a little bit difficult transitioning online with that many people and now with faces behind masks but I’m working at it.”
She said she is very excited to be working in the service-learning clinic this fall. Hartmann is involved with the Active Steps program, which focuses on promoting a healthy lifestyle for individuals with diabetes.
She is ready to create new learning opportunities for her students due to the ever-changing environment, while also presenting information to students through many formats.
“It’s an opportunity for everybody to become a little bit more tech savvy. Everybody is adapting to it, and it does force you to be a little bit more creative. How am I going to present this information so students are still understanding it?,” Hartmann said.
