Shannon Mackey is a difference-maker.
A professor of biology, with a doctoral degree in microbiology, Mackey arrived on the SAU campus in 2007 and quickly injected her passion for biology, students, and the classroom into the campus culture.
Mackey chaired the Biology Department from 2014 through 2017; directs the Bachelor of Biomedical Laboratory Science degree program that debuted this fall; and recently helped lead the creation of a newly approved Bachelor of Arts in Biology program. Designed to bring a wider range of health care-focused students to the SAU biology program, the latter will debut in fall 2020.
Mackey earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and continued her post-graduate study at Texas A&M University. Both are large institutions, so it's worth noting the native Texan is a very happy transplant to the smaller-school environment at St. Ambrose.
"I loved being in a big school," Mackey said, "but while I was at Texas A&M, I helped develop an honors microbiology lab, and I asked if I would be allowed to give a lecture for non-majors to learn about microbiology.
"It was a small class with maybe 30 students," Mackey said, "and from that teaching experience I knew I wanted not only to be a microbiology professor but a microbiology professor at a school where I could have that small, close interaction with students."
Mackey's passion for SAU students is evident and impactful.
"She has amazing energy," nursing major Natalie Koprowitz attested. "The first thing that comes to mind when I think about her is her energy. She really knows what she's talking about and she knows how to get students engaged."
Mackey knows how an impassioned educator can empower students. Her own experience tells the tale.
"When I was an undergrad, I really disliked my microbiology classes," Mackey explained, "but then I fell in love with microbes as a graduate student. It's amazing how fabulous professors and hands-on research can change one's perspective. It's that kind of life-changing influence I strive to have with my own students."
Mackey is a bundle of energy with an infectious (pun intended) personality that swings from a love of everything - from Warrior Dash 5K mud runs to outdoor concerts. She attended 30 of the latter in summer 2019.
But more than anything, Mackey loves to teach, and St. Ambrose provides her with the perfect foundation on which to pursue that love.
"Some students are overwhelmed by walking into a college classroom where all the expectations fall to the student," Mackey said. "It's a big transition. So, having faculty, particularly like you have here at St. Ambrose, who are able to recognize when students are falling into the trap of not even knowing where to start, and then reaching out and helping them, that's what happens here at St. Ambrose and it's something I take very seriously."
Again, Mackey calls on her experience with influential professors to inform her own classroom approach.
"When it comes to the classroom, it's not really the content of what we're talking about that's most important," Mackey said. "It's the enthusiasm of the instructor. It's the ability of the instructor to convey why the content is fun, exciting, or cool. Equally important is respecting your students for being individual humans. Empathy plays a huge role in education."
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