About Erin Sayer:
I am originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, but began calling Nebraska home when I went to Peru State College to play collegiate softball. I majored in health, physical education, psychology and sociology – my five years in undergraduate was busy with my four majors and college sports, but more importantly, when it was all done, I found working with college students was my passion. I spent over a decade in student housing and part of my responsibility in that capacity was advising a cohort of new students and teaching a college 101 course. I never did lose sight of my original degree because I was an ACSM-certified fitness instructor, taught aerobics class to the dorm residents and the football team, and taught a wellness class to traditional and nontraditional students. Through my master’s and doctoral degree, I realized that the development of students and working with them to achieve their goals and have a meaningful college experience is what I wanted to spend my career doing. In fact, my dissertation was on FERPA and how colleges train their staff and apply the law on their campuses! My advising background and professional affiliations are in health professions advising, and now that I am in biochemistry that has expanded to biochemistry education development, and more involvement with our ASBMB affiliation and accreditation.
What is your position at UNL?
I am an assistant professor of practice in biochemistry education and academic advising. I work with all biochemistry majors and minors in the College of Arts & Sciences and a large number of majors in CASNR, along with my colleague, Ben Heinisch. I co-teach BIOC 101: Careers in Biochemistry in fall and spring terms, and teach a reflective application class for students applying to graduate/professional school in the spring term. I am on several committees within the department, mainly focused on undergraduate education, curriculum and scholarship.
What drew you to UNL?
My master’s in education and my Ph.D. in higher education leadership were both completed at UNL, so I quickly grew used to the idea of being here for my next step in my career.
I spent a lot of time commuting to campus and learned to appreciate the educational environment as a nontraditional student. However, it was the opportunity to leave student housing for a full-time advising position in the College of Arts & Sciences that brought me to UNL full time in 2002. I spent several years in A&S as a preprofessional advisor, then became the coordinator for preprofessional advising for several more. I decided to move from “center” advising to department advising in 2013 when I went to the School of Biological Sciences, then came to Biochemistry in 2015 when the advisor position opened.
What aspect of working in an educational setting do you enjoy the most?
I do not think I could ever work outside of the higher educational setting! I thoroughly enjoy the excitement created by new students arriving to experience our university for the first time, and seniors graduating to move on to higher learning opportunities or new career paths. Every year I meet my new “favorite student” and feel sadness when another “favorite student” graduates and moves on. I watch amazing young people develop into our future doctors, dentists or pursue other health careers. At the same time, I talk daily to students who find the excitement that comes with discovering something new in the lab and they anxiously await their application to a Ph.D. program. So, my days are constantly rewarding and never dull. I also enjoy working with my faculty colleagues. That is where department advising is a great fit for me – I am surrounded by bright people who care about their students and the department we work in. It is great to have people around me on a regular basis who enjoy what they do as much as I do.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
That is a difficult question! I would have to answer it in two ways – first would be my doctorate because it is something I never dreamed I would achieve and could not have done it without the support of my family and husband. I was a first generation college student. My father was a lifetime railroad worker who didn’t graduate from high school until he earned his GED after I was born, and my mom stayed at home to raise my sister and me until she earned her own associate degree much later in life after I was done with college. Yet college was very important to my parents, so much so that they constantly motivated me and instilled in me the drive to earn a full-ride athletic scholarship so we could afford for me to go to college. My dad knew I would continue my education and would have been proud to see me graduate had he lived long enough to be there. Second – my girls and who they are makes me proud every day to call them my daughters. I want them to experience life and enjoy the world around them as much as I did growing up, but through my own education, I know the potential that exists to put one’s education to work and use it to better other people’s lives as I try to do with my advisees and students on a daily basis.
What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I am a foodie! I love to cook and I am obsessed with reading recipes – online, in cookbooks (the older the better) and in magazines, yet I never follow a recipe as printed because I know I can make it better! And I am a football-junky … how many people do you know care about preseason football?
What is your life like outside of work?
My life is wonderful! I live 43 miles from campus, on 160 acres of land that is mostly conservation reserve grasses and wildflowers. It is worth the hour drive each way! I live with my wonderful husband of 25 years and my two girls. We spend about five weeks a year in our 5th-wheel travel trailer camping and exploring this great country we live in! We also spend time doing what parents who have children the age of our girls do – 4-H, soccer, volleyball, basketball, band, swimming, and sleepovers!