Celebrating the retirement of Pat Visser after 20 years
Pat Visser, a long-time professor at Jackson College, is retiring after more than 20 years. Originally from western Michigan, Pat completed her undergraduate degree at Hope College and earned her graduate degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
She began her teaching career with an 11-year tenure at Albion College before moving to Jackson College.
Pat’s fascination with science started early, sparked by her curiosity with the way bodies, plants and animals work. She read the entire Childcraft encyclopedia set, Red Cross first aid manuals and nursing manuals.
“When I was in fourth grade, I became a teacher assistant for the special education teacher at my elementary school because she had more students than she could deal with,” she said. “She needed help and it was great fun.”
She initially resisted the idea of becoming a teacher despite her early interest.
“People always asked if I would be a teacher because my mom’s whole side of the family were teachers,” she said. “I would say, ‘no way, I am not going to be a teacher’ because to me teaching meant elementary, junior high, high school. That’s just not my personality.”
Her perspective changed during college while tutoring.
“One of my tutoring students looked at me one day and said, ‘why aren’t you planning to become a college professor? Students need people who can explain things like you do,’” she recalled.
This conversation shifted her career path, and she began preparing to become a college professor.
For 21 years at Jackson College Pat primarily taught anatomy and physiology. She has had a soft spot for community colleges stemming from her father’s work with the State of Michigan Education Department.
“I loved the idea of being able to teach a broad range of students,” she said. “The range of students are so different. It makes each semester a completely new experience. Some have been in the military, some have been paramedics, some have been homemakers for 20 years like ‘I haven’t even cracked a book since I was 16 and I have no idea what I’m doing’ and they’re petrified. Helping them realize they can learn it’s just a love of variety and it’s been a lot of fun that way.”
Pat has taught many students throughout her decades of teaching. She recalled one person from years ago that has stuck out to her to this day that struggled initially.
“It just wasn’t making sense,” she said. “I can still vividly picture in my mind as I was explaining a concept, I saw the light go off in his face. All the little things just clicked into place. The student was suddenly an A-minus student and just needed that one little push.”
Pat stayed at Jackson College because she enjoyed the community and relationships built with her students.
“When you get to know the students and their lives you sympathize with them. You give them a shoulder to cry on when they’re having a really bad day,” she said. “You can boost them up and I can be here to be that help for students. I had great fun with the people that I work with. It’s a fun community here in this building. We have a good time and we help each other. It’s a really good environment to work in.”
While she will miss the students and the camaraderie, Pat is looking forward to retirement.
“Missing meetings? No. Missing grading papers? No. But the people? Yeah, definitely,” she said.
Her future includes more gardening, reading, music and travel. She plans to write a science applications workbook merging chemistry with health science.
“I’ll keep the academic side of my mind still working, but I’m going to give myself time to do a whole bunch of other things that I have not had as much time to do as I wanted,” she said.