Episode 13 - Meet your Student Success Coordinators

The Student Success Coordinators at ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy are dedicated to supporting pharmacy students throughout their academic journey. Whether through connecting students with tutoring, setting up labs, or offering general support to students and faculty, the coordinators play a crucial role in fostering a positive and successful experience for all of pharmacy students. Hear from Justin White (P1 Coordinator), Kerstin Kromker (P2 Coordinator), and Lindsey Feltman (P3 Coordinator) in this episode.   Transcript: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode will cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience and study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. We're your hosts. I'm Doctor Michele Williams, director of academic success. Dan Vanzant And I'm Dan Vanzant, instructional design and IT manager. In this episode, we'll be talking with our new Student Success Coordinators at Gatton. These are brand new positions that the college has added to support faculty and students in the P1, P2, and P3 years. Michele Williams Yeah, we're really happy that you're here. And because this is such a new position again, we've gotten a lot of questions from faculty and staff, students. I'm sure you've heard some of these questions about what the student success coordinators do. So I'd like to take a minute just to kind of give a general overview of the job. And if you want to know more, there's going to be more information on Gatton’s Pharmacy Student Success page. You can find pictures of Justin, Kirsten, and Lindsey and list their responsibilities. Student Success Coordinators help faculty with things like grading and skills labs and the SIM lab experiences. They help with the space. They also help with things related to exams, and you may see them proctoring occasionally. They also can help students with information and resources. And beginning next year, they're going to start maintaining the class calendar of important events, which will be really helpful. And you'll be seeing them during that. And really, they help identify needs of students. So if you're a student and there's something that you have a question about or that you would like the administration to know a little bit about, you can let your student leadership know or talk directly to the student success coordinators, and that'll make its way up to the decision makers. Dan Vanzant So let's take a few minutes for each of you to introduce yourselves and tell us what professional year you are working with. And tell us a little bit about your backgrounds and what interested you in working with pharmacy students. Justin White Well, he's looking at you, Kirsten, so I feel like you should. Michele Williams Thank you. That's what we were going to go by. Yeah. Justin White Well, that would make sense. Well, my name is Justin White, and I am the Student Success Coordinator for the P1 students for the first year. And yeah, I've been on—what—since October. I guess it's been about six months now. And yeah, what was the question? Dan Vanzant Oh, just an introduction, which you just did, and then a little bit about your background and what interested you in working with pharmacy students. Justin White Yeah. Well, my background is a lot different than this. My background is actually more in public history. I majored in history as an undergrad and worked in several museums and historic sites in the area. I worked at the Reece Museum over on ETSU main campus. I most notably worked for Rocky Mount State Historic Site in Piney Flats for several years before COVID, and then moved over to the College of Nursing at ETSU. And then moved over here about six months ago. So yeah, I just—I really—I'm working on my master's right now. My passion is working with students. I want to work with students. And this job I feel like is a great opportunity to not only do that, but to make the role what I want it to be, because these are brand new positions that we're kind of—Doctor Williams used the term one time that I really like—building the road as we're walking it, and I like that. I like that we are—because we can ask, “What are student success coordinators doing? What is your day‑to‑day?” And the answer is: we're figuring that out really every day. So it's helping faculty, it's being there for students. And you know, that's what I really wanted was more of a one‑on‑one role where I would get to work directly with students, which is not something I was getting in my previous positions. Obviously not something I was doing a lot working in the public history sector. So awesome. Dan Vanzant Right? But we—the—our P2 Student Success Coordinator. Kirsten So I'm Kirsten. I work with the P2s. Background‑wise, my degrees are in translation. So I have a double major in German and Spanish translation. And I used to do a lot of interpreting. So I used to work a lot in hospitals and courthouses. And then, as a translator, most of my stuff actually used to be medical translating as well as military translating. So kind of familiar with that a little bit more. What drew me to work with the students is probably just because I have a wide range of interests, and I just like to learn more all the time. So I enjoy how much they kind of like—you focus on what they do. Lindsey So I'm Lindsey Feldman. I’m the P3 Student Success Coordinator. I’m the most recent addition, having just been hired in February of ’24. However, I do have a little bit of history with Gatton, starting in 2018 as a secretary in Bishop Hall, and then I transitioned into an Educational Coordinator role, which has some overlap with this new Student Success Coordinator role. I helped in the IDEAL Labs and facilitating all the moving parts with those and just other courses in the curriculum. So I stepped away to be a new mom in 2021, and when I found out that there was a new position that was more student‑focused, I was very excited to see that. And because my background is working with students—I was a high school English teacher—this role is actually a really good fit because I still get to work with students, do the things that I love to do in working with students and helping them succeed. Without the constantly‑in‑front‑of‑people component. You know—downtime. Yeah, yeah, it helps a lot. So yeah. Dan Vanzant Yeah, that's good. Well, now that we have that out of the way, we have some pressing questions and we have a speed round of questions. So I'm going to go around the room, I'm going to call your name, and ask you a question. And I expect you to respond as quickly as possible. So I'm going to start—let’s start with P3—with Lindsey. So first question: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Lindsey No, it's not. Dan Vanzant Oh, that was quick. Lindsey The bun—oh, next slide please. Dan Vanzant No, no, please go on about why it's not a sandwich. Lindsey The buns are on top and bottom, but on a hot dog it's the opposite—it’s on the sides. Dan Vanzant Would anybody else like to weigh in? Justin White I mean, I agree. I agree. I mean yes, it's meat between two pieces of bread, but that's where the similarities end. A hot dog’s a hot dog and a sandwich is a sandwich. Dan Vanzant It's meat with toppings sandwiched between two pieces of bread. Kirsten See, I'm going to agree with them. I don't think it is. I think it's a hot dog. I think that it has condiments. I don't think there’s anything else too much more involved. Justin White I can't imagine putting ketchup, mustard, chili on a sandwich. What kind of sandwich has—oh—I mean, a hamburger is a burger. Kirsten Right? And I can't imagine adding like cheese and tomatoes and—I don't know what else—to my hot dog. It's just weird. Dan Vanzant You ever had a barbecue sandwich with coleslaw on it? Justin White I don’t like coleslaw. Michele Williams I think it's the hinge. There's a— Justin White I agree. It's the hinge. The bun is one piece of bread that swings like a door. Michele Williams Yes. Justin White It's not two pieces of bread. Michele Williams Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Dan Vanzant Has anybody had a Five Guys hot dog? Michele Williams No. Dan Vanzant Okay. So they slice it down—okay, okay. Got it. I wasn't sure. They slice the hot dog down the middle. Justin White Yeah, I was—it was not that long ago. And if I had asked for, like, a Chicago‑style sandwich, I wouldn't have gotten a hot dog. I would have gotten an Italian beef sandwich. Dan Vanzant That's true. They might not have served you. Justin White Yeah, they probably would have. Dan Vanzant That's a good point. Chicago dogs are their own thing. Anyway—moving on. Again, going in reverse order. Kirsten: name five uses of a stapler without staples. Kirsten I can use it as a hammer—that’s one. I can use it to break your window. Dan Vanzant Okay… Kirsten Life‑saving measures… a doorstop… okay, let’s see… weapon? Justin White I guess I'm going to say weapon. Kirsten Yeah, I'm trying to keep it— Justin White I mean, if you're desperate enough. Kirsten That's true. I feel like I can use it to reach something—like the last one I need. Dan Vanzant As an extension. Okay. All right. That’s fine. Justin White Where the little staples go in—yeah. Kirsten Yes, right. Dan Vanzant Other acceptable answers… Michele Williams Supportive object. Justin White A paperweight. Dan Vanzant Or if it's a red stapler—a conversation piece. Michele Williams Yes. Movie memorabilia. Justin White That’s right. Movie memorabilia. If it's a red Swingline. Dan Vanzant All right. Excellent. Question three. Justin: What is the most recent song that you listened to on repeat? Justin White Oh gosh. Well actually, I've had a song on repeat today. It's recently come out. I don't want to sound too hipster, but I doubt anyone has heard of it. It’s a guy who makes music under the name Nourished By Time, and he has a new EP out, and the first song on that is called Hell of a Ride, and I've listened to that like 20 times today. It’s— Michele Williams Yeah? Justin White It’s kind of R&B. It's not hip‑hop, but it's—I would say more kind of R&B, kind of synth‑pop, kind of dancey. I'll play it for you. Dan Vanzant Okay, all right. I'm going to give you another chance, Justin. And then we'll go around the room the other direction. If you were a Microsoft Office program, which program would you be? Justin White Microsoft Office program… Can I say like, the old Windows PC games that used to come pre‑loaded? Like Chips Challenge and SkiFree and Minesweeper? Dan Vanzant Are those technically Microsoft Office programs? Justin White No. I guess those are just Microsoft. An Office program… I mean, it's not Excel because I'm not Excel. Absolutely not. I mean—maybe PowerPoint, because I like to think I’m a little creative, and I feel like you can get the most creative with that. Or with Publisher. Okay—PowerPoint or Publisher. Dan Vanzant Kirsten—same question. Kirsten Same question. I have a question for that then… you know the old Draw—like Draw— Justin White MS Paint? Kirsten Yes! MS Paint. There we go. Justin White Again, that's not Office though. Kirsten Oh darn it. That would be my choice. Dan Vanzant Maybe they incorporated that into the Whiteboard tools. Kirsten Yeah. Yeah. Dan Vanzant Okay, all right, we'll accept it. Michele Williams Okay. Dan Vanzant And Lindsey, same question. Lindsey Yeah, it makes me feel very boring, but Word is probably what I would pick just because I'm an English person. You know—the editor, that sort of thing. Justin White Yeah, when I was doing my history undergrad, I loved Word because of how easy it made creating bibliographies and citations and references. It made it so easy. Dan Vanzant It's only getting easier. Back in the day you used to be able to turn off spell check, right? Justin White Oh yeah. Dan Vanzant Now it's automatic. You can still—can you? As an English Word person, would you ever turn it off? Maybe for everybody. Justin White I don't see ever turning it off. As long as I have the option to ignore—like mark this as ignore—I don't see the point in turning it off. Lindsey I would turn off spell check because it's usually—not—I don't usually need it. But the grammar check is wrong sometimes. It is. Justin White It is. Oh yeah. Dan Vanzant Have any of you used Grammarly? Justin White Yeah. Kirsten Of course. Yeah. I actually use it a lot when translating because sometimes you just write too directly from one language to the other and I need a different perspective. Dan Vanzant Okay. Kirsten But I like it. Dan Vanzant Last speed round. Michele Williams Yeah. Justin White These speed rounds—we are getting through this—it's just mind‑blowing. It's like a NASCAR race. Kirsten As I said, the sloth is kind of my spirit animal. Dan Vanzant Okay. Last question. Kirsten: Cilantro—yes or no? Kirsten Yes. Lindsey Yes. Michele Williams Yes. Justin White Yes. Dan Vanzant I didn't ask me—I'm going again. I have gone back and forth. Actually, sometimes there are periods in my life where I feel like my taste changed a little. I couldn't eat it—it tasted like rubber soap or something. I think there's some cilantro that's fresher, that's stronger, whereas you can get more mild cilantro. Justin White I'll even get pico that has cilantro in it and then add some extra cilantro. Dan Vanzant Wow. Okay, I'm doubling down on cilantro. Justin White I'm on board. Dan Vanzant Yeah, okay. All right. Excellent. Well, that concludes the speed round. Michele Williams And so finally, how can students find you if they have a question or if they'd just like to say hello? Justin White Well, we're all in the same office, so that makes it super convenient no matter what year you are. We are in Bishop Hall on the first floor, basically on your left as soon as you walk in the building. We are in room 112—the Student Success and Research Coordinator office. That's where you can find us. Also, you can make an appointment with us on EAB Navigate. We recently got that set up, so hopefully we'll be using that a lot more in the future. Of course you can shoot us an email any time. My email is [email protected]. Feldmanl1… Kirsten …and [email protected]. And you also have the phone. Justin White What is the number to that phone? Michele Williams 439‑6401. Dan Vanzant All right. Well, thank you all for joining us today. Nice to get to know you guys a little bit more—I think good for the students as well. Thank you. Michele, do you have anything to add? Michele Williams Again, we're really glad you're here. Justin White I'm glad we're here too. Michele Williams Thank you guys. Justin White Yeah. Thank you.