Interview with Janet Batzli

Partial Transcript: TR: Okay, today is July 21st, 2021. This is an interview with Janet Batzli...

Partial Transcript: TR: So the first question is a big broad one and that's, what brought you to UW-Madison?

Segment Synopsis: Batzli completed her undergraduate education at UW-Madison, first coming to Madison in 1985. She remembers coming along East Washington at night, struck by the beauty of the city and the sight of Capitol all lit up. She was from a suburb of Chicago and had never been in an academic town before, so she appreciated the buzz and energy of new ideas. She was a transfer student from UW-Platteville in the fall of her junior year looking for that buzz and opportunities. She also came to join the Gymnastics team, which practiced in the Red Gym. She was interested in plant science and thought the horticulture program at UW-Madison was better as she was able to get into a research lab as a junior. It was her "first step into science". She had an excellent mentor in Fred Liss. She worked in his lab on a research project, which helped her think about her career. It took her fifteen years to return to Madison-she met her husband here as an undergraduate, got married right after graduation and spent several years moving around the country. She worked at the National Arboretum and got her Master's in Washington, DC, went to graduate school at the University of Illinois, had two kids and got her postdoc at Michigan State University, where she learned about scientific education and inquiry. She was hired at UW-Madison and says coming back to Madison felt like coming home, since they had always wanted to return.

Keywords: Master's; National Arboretum; UW Madison alumnus; horticulture program; research lab

Partial Transcript: JB: So I took on the position as the associate director of the Biocore program in 2002...

Segment Synopsis: Janet became the Assistant Director of the Biocore program in 2002. Biocore at that point was the model of excellence in undergraduate biology education. A colleague at the time told her she had "inherited a jewel", although she wasn't sure what that meant at the time. She was able to work with incredibly motivated students and engaged faculty and had a chance to apply her own knowledge. She also had the ability to create and implement programs and projects. Her husband also got a job at the University and her daughter now works for the University as well.

Keywords: Assistant Director; Biocore program; Biology; faculty

Partial Transcript: TR: I wonder if you could talk a bit more, I know you said that you didn't know for sure about plant biology until your mentor kind of showed you...

Segment Synopsis: Janet was introduced to the outdoors at a very young age. She lived in a wooded area with plenty of opportunities to explore. Her family spent the summers in Door County and she spent a lot of time playing outdoors, usually in wooded areas. She loved early springs and spring wildflowers. She frequented the Morton Arboretum but didn't know there was a way she could make a living just being around plants. Her mother had a greenhouse area where she could watch plants grow over time and she 'made friends' with all the plants that surrounded her. A recruiter at her high school told her that UW-Platteville had plants. She was already well disposed to Wisconsin because she thought the whole state looked like Door County. Her parents encouraged her exploration of different paths. She was drawn to the natural areas of UW-Madison, especially the lake. She isn't sure why she loves plants and their biology. She just does.

Keywords: Door County; Morton Arboretum; Outdoors; UW-Madison; UW-Platteville

Partial Transcript: TR: You mentioned, I believe you said Fred Bliss was a mentor, and you mentioned a little bit as to why, but...

Segment Synopsis: He was great. Janet had already taken some introductory biology classes when she arrived. She knew what plant genetics was and she had taken a job in high school as a groundskeeper at the Ball Seed company in Chicago where she took care of their farm trials and there was a research scientist who was a plant geneticist. Fred Bliss was also a plant geneticist. She took a graduate level plant genetics class and Fred Bliss was the instructor. She went to see him during office hours and told him she had no idea what was going on. She dropped the class but he invited her to work in his lab even though she was failing the class and didn't know anything about the underlying biology of genetics. He treated her like a graduate student and respected her ability to admit what she didn't understand but didn't force her to follow directions. He invited her to think and cared about her ideas. He had just received a large grant and was working with farmers. He went to a meeting out in Spring Green to start the project and invited JB to go with him as a colleague. She felt respected and affirmed. She spent the next two summers working for him as an assistant for the project and she ended up doing her graduate work on the same idea. She spent both her Master's at the University of Maryland and her PhD at the University of Illinois working on nitrogen fixing in woody plants in temperate settings. She took what she learned during her undergraduate education and pulled it into her gap year and she wouldn't have had those skills if she hadn't worked in Dr. Bliss's lab and just stayed within her undergraduate coursework. She was hired as a federal employee at the National Arboretum right after graduation because of that experience. She came to understand what it meant to collaborate with others and be a good mentor.

Keywords: Agronomy; Ball Seed Company; Fredrick Bliss; National Arboretum; woody plants

Partial Transcript: TR: I might ask a little later or if we do a follow-up about how you've paid that forward being a mentor, but...

Segment Synopsis: Janet's interest in science education is connected with her interest in science and scientific process. She was a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois and she taught one of the biggest courses-Biology 100, an introductory biology course for non-majors. She also went to conferences and went to a workshop at the Ecological Society of America on active and engaged learning led by Diane Ebert-May. She talked about using the same skills of inquiry she used in research on the students she was teaching. It helped Janet Batzli figure out why some students were engaged and some students weren't. Her teaching mentor let her try things out in the classroom. The students had to come up with experiments using Wisconsin fast plants and she loved watching them ask questions and be curious, developing their own scientific inquiry. She went to a couple of international conferences and she compared the size of that conference to the size of her class (500 students a semester; 80 people at the international conference). She looked at the role of nitrogen fixing of woody plants in river ecosystems but she also began to look beyond her own research area at ways she could have a larger impact. She was hired full time to teach in the place of her academic mentor so he could get his PhD. She loved the academic teaching. She sought out Diane Ebert-May and followed her to the University of Michigan. Diane Ebert May was also a UW-Madison alum and had connections to Biocore so Batzli could apply to the job. She can mentor undergraduates in many different scientific areas, but her special area of research is biology education research.

Keywords: Biocore; Biology education; Diane Ebert-May; Scientific education; University of Illinois

Partial Transcript: TR: So now, I'm confident we're going to need a follow-up interview, so I'm just saying that right now...

Segment Synopsis: Janet explains Biocore as the honors biology program at UW-Madison. It is very unique because students are trained in the process of science while also being in a community of other students developed over four semesters. Students can work together for more than half of their undergraduate career. It's a curriculum nested in a co-curricular experience and community.

Keywords: Biocore; Honors Biology; Undergraduates

Partial Transcript: TR: And then, I know you've talked about this within your answers to the other questions, but then...

Segment Synopsis: Janet does a lot of different things within Biocore. As director, she is the lead administrator and represents the shared vision of the program at the college and university level. Within the program she teaches a lot of undergraduates within the academic year. As an honors program, the staff prides themselves on connecting with students directly over the two years. Typically the connections they make through teaching, mentoring, and advising, draw students back in, even as upperclassmen. She leads the peer mentoring and peer advising programs. Alumni networking and student leadership are very important. She also works to develop curriculum and works with TAs in professional development. Her duties are seasonal; in the summer she has more administrative tasks and mentors student projects.

Keywords: Advising; Biocore; Leadership; Professional Development; Undergraduates

Partial Transcript: TR: So I want to ask a sort of a sub-question within Biocore, too, because you've mentioned a few times Biocore Prairie...

Segment Synopsis: Janet inherited the idea of the Biocore Prairie before it was a prairie. The program's predecessors had the opportunity to take on the stewardship of university land in the lakeshore nature preserve, previously the Campus Natural Areas. In 2002 the prairie was just an old soybean field and dumping station for the hospital. Janet worked to create a 12 acre outdoor space sandwiched between Picnic Point and the Eagle Heights Community Gardens. Over twenty years it has become a prairie and is now a destination place for all of Madison, not just the university community. For the students in Biocore, it is where they start- "everything comes back to the prairie". Students come out to the prairie on their very first day and JB meets them at the stone gate. The prairie is a rich ecosystem for observation of big and small things. JB teaches Biocore 382, Ecology, Evolution, and Genetics, the first laboratory course, and the students do their research projects at the prairie. The prairie is often brought up in lectures to illustrate themes and provide scientific examples. It was the only place the instructors could meet in person with students during the pandemic. The entering cohort of 2020 got a prairie experience under pandemic protocols. The prairie is important not only for the program, but also for the Madison community and the university at large. Its legacy will continue long after she and her colleague Seth have left the university.

Keywords: Biocore Prairie; Biology; Student Research

Partial Transcript: TR: I do want to, since, what I always want to do in these interviews is, if there's anything on your mind...

Segment Synopsis: Janet wants to make time to talk about the relationship between faculty and staff, recognizing her flexibility in being able to complete and implement programming that has allowed her to have amazing experiences doing work outside Biocore and within the realm of teaching and learning. She hopes to be able to discuss it in a follow up interview.

Keywords: Academic staff; Roles; Teaching

Partial Transcript: TR: Thank you for your time today, I do appreciate it.

Partial Transcript: TR: Okay, today is July 29th, 2021. This is the follow-up interview with Janet Batzli.

Partial Transcript: TR: So I want to start with, you talked a lot about mentoring and being mentored, and...

Segment Synopsis: Janet feels lucky to have had 'a constellation of mentors' who influenced and inspired her. How she mentors is influenced by how she was mentors. All of the mentors that she respects very highly made her feel respected and competent. They made her feel like she had a voice and they were curious about her thoughts. She also values autonomy for the mentee so the mentee can guide the conversation and their own projects. She has some undergraduate researchers and DEI interns she is working with. She isn't always an expert but she 'mentors from her gut' and helps the other mentees connect with other people. It's important to set goals and be flexible enough to switch paths if needed. The mentee should feel like they can direct their own path based on where they're going, with input from the mentor.

Keywords: Autonomy; DEI; Goal Setting; Mentors

Partial Transcript: TR: The other follow-up was, you had mentioned, I think you had even mentioned it at your work...

Segment Synopsis: Paul Williams is part of Janet's constellation of mentors. She first learned about Paul as a TA at the University of Illinois, where they were using fast plants to learn how to teach with inquiry. This inquiry has influenced her future teaching and mentoring style. He was also a former Biocore instructor at UW and they became friends. In 2009 he helped develop an innovative lab on plant genetics. There was no curriculum already produced but Biocore was already an innovative program exploring difficult concepts to teach. They are part of the 'tacit curriculum', things that she wants students to come out of the program knowing. Paul bred the organisms so they could be used in a classroom setting and helped explain the biology involved. He was able to do formal teaching after nearly a decade away from the classroom. They called it Paul's Sandbox and playing with ideas was encouraged. They published together, disseminated the curriculum nationally, and did research on biological education in it for over ten years. He inspired her approach to science and scientific education with an open beginner's mind.

Keywords: Fast Plants; Mentoring; Paul Williams; Paul's Sandbox; Scientific Inquiry

Partial Transcript: TR: So my next question that I had on the original topic list was, how have changes in technology changed your work?

Segment Synopsis: Janet continues to look for ways to connect people and technology can really help with that, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted the community, among the students and faculty and the instructors had to come up with an entirely new way to connect. Online conferencing has changed how she works and thinks about work. It seems like it's a portal for new ways to connect with people. The library technology that has made materials much more accessible for faculty and students has changed how she teaches and how the students write. Digital communications via text have made it easy to keep in touch with different members of the teaching staff, including across the Biocore Prairie. Apps like iNaturalist can help students ID plants they've never seen before. She is concerned about e-documentation. It's much more efficient but she is worried about the history if there are no hard copies of documents. There isn't even a hard drive for documents, they're all out in the Cloud. She's worried about the veracity of institutional memory in a digital age. This need for preservation is one of the reasons she consented to this oral history interview.

Keywords: Accessibility; Biocore; Digital communications; Institutional memory; Technology

Partial Transcript: TR: You've talked a bit about COVID just in your last answer and you talked a bit about it in your first session, but...

Segment Synopsis: There was a noticeable loss of human connection during the COVID-19 pandemic, a noticeable quiet. There was a loss of community, despite their best efforts, and a loss of attention and focus. There was a perspective that there was more work, even though there wasn't. The students weren't going outside. The Biocore Adventure Club couldn't run-when she asked students how many had been outside in the past three days, only a third of their hands went up. In the classroom she can teach in three dimensions, especially outside, appealing to other senses like smell and taste, and that isn't possible over Zoom. It was a shift from 3D to 2D (the computer screen) with an accompanying loss of the senses and an amplification of inequities associated with all aspects of the classroom experience. There were also silver linings-it made her value being with people and she was very excited to be with people in person again. She learned to value people and friendships more. She's amazed by what they created in a short amount of time and the new innovations can be used again any time they need to be, demonstrating human creativity and resiliency. However, she's still worried. Faculty members [at the time of the interview] were worried about coming back to school for the 2021-22 school year and how the ongoing pandemic might continue to affect their classes.

Keywords: COVID-19; Community; Innovation; Pandemic; Resiliency

Partial Transcript: TR: You know, do you think about the relationship between faculty and staff and, if so, what are your thoughts?

Segment Synopsis: Janet thinks about it all the time. She works with a lot of faculty in professional development and service commitments. As an interim director, her role should be filled by a faculty member. In the teaching academy she learned a lot of lessons about faculty and staff dynamics. She met faculty from across the university and was asked to be on the executive committee, later becoming Co Chair. Both years she was a co chair with a faculty member. She felt the decision making and innovation was co created, but there was lots of discussion about a very tiered hierarchy at the university. There was a feeling that there were places in the university that were faculty only, like certain committees, but she acknowledges there are also places that are academic staff only. She is in conversations now where she is the only non-faculty member there. Brad Hughes is one of her mentors who has been in a similar position. He told her to act like she belongs, even when she's the only person in the room with a different title. She is cultivating that moving forward. She is also learning from her co chairs like Nick Balster. She founded the Madison Teaching and Learning Excellence program with him, which followed on her experience in an NFS program led by Diane Ebert-May. MTLE was founded on the premise of a pivot point for assistant professors coming in pre tenure as learning something about teaching before getting into the classroom. She learned about how the conversation about faculty and staff is started through assistant professors. She hugely respects the faculty and their role on campus and also has empathy for what they are being asked to do in guiding the University and the many demands on their time. As an academic staff person she's experienced more flexibility and autonomy in her pursuits. She probably wouldn't have been able to start MTLE if she was in a traditional faculty role. She appreciates the many opportunities she has had to work with faculty colleagues.

Keywords: Autonomy; Faculty; MTLE; Staff

Partial Transcript: TR: I do want to ask a couple of questions specifically about academic staff, including the award that you received...

Segment Synopsis: She hasn't been officially involved in the Academic Staff Assembly. She has been involved in decision making in the Teaching Academy from around 2010-2014, working with the Vice Provost. Then she was involved in the governance and working with people in the faculty senate when creating MTLE, thinking about shared governance between faculty and academic staff. She ran the program for a couple of years before moving back into Biocore. She's also been involved in the University Honors Committee and its curricular programs. She continues to think about shared governance and the development of outcomes. She has been involved in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Shared Governance Committee that has official guidelines for both faculty and staff.

Keywords: Academic Staff Governance; Faculty Senate; Lakeshore Nature Preserve; MTLE; Teaching Academy

Partial Transcript: TR: So before we get to your final thoughts, I do want to ask about the story behind the Academic Staff Award.

Segment Synopsis: Janet knew she would be nominated for the Academic Staff Award. She had talked with the Executive Committee chair about that and she met with her nominators a couple of times before they submitted the package. She was really honored to even be nominated and to be among the other nominees that year. She was also happy for the program to be recognized because it is fairly small and its name doesn't have the reach of some of the other programs. The awards are important for both the individuals and the programs. The reception was virtual, although she got her own cheese plate. She wishes it was in person. She had nominated a staff member who won a Letters and Science Academic Staff award and she was able to introduce the nominee at a different awards ceremony, which she really enjoyed. She would like to see opportunities for the nominators to say a few words at other awards ceremonies.

Keywords: Academic Staff Awards; Nominees; Reception

Partial Transcript: TR: So this is where we get to the final thoughts. Previously, one of the things that you talked about...

Segment Synopsis: Reflecting on her 19 years at UW, Janet thinks it really is a 'sift and winnow type of place'. She hopes the University continues to allow grassroots projects to bubble up. Most of her projects started as grassroots ideas. She is worried that too much focus on efficiency doesn't allow for the support of smaller projects. She loves the students and thinks the University should learn from them, especially in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Student voices should be elevated, particularly about their lived experiences outside the University. She has been troubled by growing, top heavy, administrative structures and its impact on innovation, such as more compliance tasks leading to staff exhaustion. Coming back to UW after having been away, it has become the place where she has grown her career and where she will stay. She feels lucky to be here and believes she has achieved more than she could have elsewhere because of her mentors and the connections she made with people on the in person and residential campus. She says the school is a "shining jewel" and hopes it stays that way.

Keywords: Administration; Community; Grassroots; Innovation; Sift and Winnow

Partial Transcript: JB: Thank you, I'm honored.