Millersville’s College of Science and Technology is home to a variety of different greenhouses, labs, and animal facilities that contribute to an efficient and diverse learning environment. These facilities are maintained on a daily basis, rigorously checked and monitored by a group of student workers and led by a faculty member with a down-to-earth approach for biology education, Professor Heather Fogell.
Fogell is an adjunct biology professor and the head lab technician for the department, where she approaches labs and assignments with intent to maximize student learning outcomes and real world application of biological systems.
“Professor Fogell was my lab professor for my first Biology class here at Millersville, and from the first day her passion for science was contagious,” says Lila Smaglinski, a biology major and lab prep assistant under Fogell. “Professor Fogell broke me out of my shell, gave me the confidence in my abilities that I needed to grow, and I have had so many opportunities along the way thanks to her.”
Fogell, the York native who has curated 25 years of teaching sciences at Coatesville and Red Lion school districts, as well as earning a biology degree from Millersville University, maintains that she wants the focus of biology education “to be on the science, on the students, and their gains in science.”
“I have more fun teaching the labs, because you’re distracting away from individuals into science, and you’re practicing the science and curriculum essentially through the activity,” she says.
However, Fogell admits that challenges do arise in biology, where educators must be “careful and conscientious” of how they may present material to students and be aware of how students may learn differently.
“Do you want to just throw all the information out there, or do you want to take into effect the individual, the community, the environment? And if you do, to what aspect may that change how you deliver the content?” says Fogell, “You know people are going to gather [information] at different rates, and with different abilities so if we can diversify that, it’s going to be helpful.”
Challenges also arise in lab and greenhouse maintenance, where a band of student workers work to minimize difficulty for the department.
“They [student workers] are an extension of my eyes, my ears, my hands, and the better the student workers, the better service we give for the school,” says Fogell. “They are essentially the whole foundation of what goes on in the department, so it’s hugely valuable there, and interacting with them is a great pleasure.”
Anabelle Vue, another lab prep assistant under Fogell, said that she is the “backbone of the biology department.”
“I, and many other students who have had the pleasure of working with her, know that she is the backbone of the biology department because of everything she does in the background so that everything can run smoothly,” says Vue.
Fogell continues to maintain a positive, efficient, and learning-centered culture around Millersville biology, further expanding the department’s ability to positively influence the lives of students in Caputo and Roddy halls.
