Joanne Oellers became a teacher because she loved learning and biology. After 32 years of sharing that love with countless Yavapai College students, she’s ready for new assignments.
Joanne retired in May with plans to continue teaching “the study of life,”engage with fellow members of the Sierra Club, volunteer for science field studies, and connect older adults with nature.
“I’m a teacher. I’m going to teach one way or another,” she said during a retirement-day eve interview that found her wrapping up YC duties from home.
Having vacated her office at the Verde Valley campus earlier in the semester because of the COVID-19 shutdown, Joanne’s last couple of days on the job were quiet. “It feels a little bit like it would normally after the end of the semester,” she said. “But as time goes on, and I don’t start preparing for fall, it will start to sink in.”
The semblance of normalcy didn’t prevent Joanne from reflecting on and waxing nostalgic about her career, which as it happens, manifested while she was a student at YC. The Phoenix native found her way to YC after equating a dead-end job with the need for more education. She had grown fond of Prescott as a youthful summer refugee. “I was one of those kids who swam in the Granite Dells pools.”
Joanne recalled visiting the Prescott campus in 1979 and taking a tour with then-biology-department chair Archie Dickey, who pitched forestry studies and transferring to Northern Arizona University. She took his advice, thinking at the time “that it might be a good fit for me.”
Turns out the admittedly average high school math and science student found she could excel in both subjects. She went to work for the science department as a student, and after graduating became the first-ever science administrative assistant. Inspired and mentored by YC science faculty, she left her administrative post after a couple years to pursue a bachelor’s degree. “I had such a good experience. I really liked my professors, and I wanted to be like them,” she said.
At NAU, Joanne was a non-traditional student -- a new mother somewhat older than her classmates. The experience helped her support students, many who were also parents, that filled her classrooms over the years. “I did the same thing my students were doing, juggling all those life responsibilities,” she recalled thinking as the age demographic trended upward.
After teaching awhile in public schools, Oellers in 1989 was asked to teach as a YC chemistry lab adjunct. She enjoyed lab teaching, she said, “because I felt like I was learning, too. I liked to learn along with students.” Working with students in the lab also afforded the creativity that Joanne employed to help bring her students along. “Learning takes a long time. It takes a lot of repetition but adds richness and depth to the outcomes,” she said.
The YC Science Department became Joanne’s professional home as both adjunct instructor on campus and field instructor for YC’s former Elderhostel program. In 1998, after becoming the first YC instructor to teach online science courses and obtaining a master’s degree from Prescott College while researching a type of the hantavirus at the Grand Canyon, she took a full-time faculty position on the Verde Valley campus. Filling a need there for online science instruction and teaching a diverse set of courses, she said she found the position “a really good fit for me.’’ She described the Verde campus community as friendly, collegial and accepting. “I could always find somebody to bounce ideas off of,” she said. Her fellow professors and the Science Department’s stellar lab assistants understood. “I’m going to miss saying I love biology to people who love biology,” she said.
Yavapai College certainly will miss Joanne, said Scott Farnsworth, dean of the School of Health and Wellness. "Joanne is one of those rare individuals who came to YC as a student, taught for us as an adjunct, and has been a biology faculty member in the Verde. She loves the outdoors and teaching Environmental Biology was her passion. We are hoping to see her around with a big smile on her face as she enjoys her retirement."
Added Dr. James Perey, former executive dean of the Verde campus: "I have always appreciated Joanne's soft spoken demeanor and willingness to serve others such as students and other faculty. I have really enjoyed working with her."
Outside of one particularly harrowing experience with snow on Mingus Mountain, Joanne enjoyed the hour-long scenic drives between the Verde campus in Clarkdale and her Prescott home. “I made it into a joy. I looked around a lot. I looked for animals, the seasons changing. I saw and explored as I could.”
Besides some celebratory Thai takeout and a “nice walk in the (Granite) Dells,” Joanne said establishing a new routine was No. 1 on her retirement to-do list. The new routine will incorporate Sierra Club and volunteer “citizen scientist” aspirations, as well as birding, hiking and exploring Arizona with her husband, Walt Anderson, a retired Prescott College professor. Explaining her preference for short-distance travel, Joanne said, “I like to get somewhere quickly and start having fun.”
Joanne plans to spend more time with her daughters, Kaolin and Emery (who soon will return to the Prescott area), and other family.
Something Joanne is certain won’t be ignored in retirement is her biologist persona, earned over a near- lifetime of studying and teaching. “I am still a biologist and teacher. I’m just not going to remain a full-time biology professor.”
