Michael Rice, Ph.D., professor of community based health in the College of Nursing, is among the four UNMC faculty members who will receive Outstanding Teaching Awards at the April 20 Annual Faculty meeting.
Below, Dr. Rice reflects on what it means to be a teacher.
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Michael Rice, Ph.D. |
- Name: Michael Rice, Ph.D.
- Title: Professor of community based health
- Classes/courses taught: Advanced Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing:Adult; Neuroscience of Psycholpharmacology for Advanced Practice Nursing; Practicum in Advanced Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing.
- Joined UNMC: 2008
- Hometown: Neligh, Neb.
What are the greatest rewards of being a teacher?
There are two rewards — one is that moment when the students get that contemplative look followed by the flash of understanding. That synergy between the student and I at that moment tells me they have a firm grasp of the material and will never ever lose it. Secondly, knowing that what my students accomplish in their careers will make what I have done seem pale in comparison.
Describe a moment in your career when you realized you had picked the right occupation.
As an undergraduate student when I met my first patient with the disease of schizophrenia. He was so ill that he could not speak a sentence coherently but he could play Bach on the guitar flawlessly. I could not understand how the two different facets could exist in the same person. I knew there had to be a person in there somewhere and I needed to help find them. I was hooked. As a faculty member, I know I’m in the right field when I see a student with that same look of needing to understand someone with a mental illness.
What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?
As a faculty member, the biggest challenge I have is breaking knowledge out of the traditional model for education and putting it in a format that encourages students to use it not as the final word or conclusion, but as a starting point for lifelong learning.
List three things few people know about you.
- I am a fifth generation Nebraskan, raised not far from where my great great grandparents settled.
- I got my master’s in psychiatric nursing from UNMC and feel that it has served me well.
- I am a dreamer and have to go see what is just beyond the horizon.