You are welcome to call me Holly, or Professor Schiefelbein (she-full-bine). Or any permutation of those is ok.

I have been teaching biology at community college since 2017. In fact, I specifically went back to get my master's degree in biology so I could teach here! I've always been mesmerized by the idea that life is even possible, and understanding how living things function is one of the universe's great mysteries to me. My fascination with living things showed up very early in my life. In elementary school during soccer games, instead of paying attention to the game, I would be distracted by the flowers and bugs on the field, or the birds flying overhead. One time, I just sat down in the middle of the game to look at the earthworm that was crawling around. My parents didn't sign me up for soccer the next year after that happened. I still find myself doing this, especially when I'm out of the city. Going on a hike with me means you'll be waiting for me as I get drawn in by a cool fungus, or I'm trying to see what species of bird just flew overhead, or trying to identify a cool flower I just saw. Living things just fascinate me in a way nothing else has!

I knew I always loved biology, and I love teaching. But it was my experience watching my parents go to school, first at community college, and later at university, that really demonstrated the power of accessible higher education. My mom, as a newly single mother and first-generation college student, pursued a degree in nursing at OHSU. She's now a nurse practitioner. It was while she was taking classes at community college that she met the person I call my dad (though he's not my biological dad - families are complicated). He was recently out of the army, and was taking classes but didn't quite know what he wanted to do. When I was twelve, a decade after they'd met, he graduated with his bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering from Oregon State. I have many memories of my parents studying while I played at the playground. My dad would read his nuclear chemistry book to me so he could study and put me to sleep at the same time. I believe that it was, in large part, the community college they attended and the assistance they received from the entire campus staff and faculty that provided an environment in which my parents could succeed. I wanted to be a part of that culture that helped people achieve their goals and a system that has the potential to change lives.

So, a few years after I completed my B.S. degree, I went back to school to get my M.S. in Biology at California State University, Long Beach. I focused on mammalian behavioral evolution and ecology. Specifically, I researched how animals respond to signals that dangerous prey provide. I used camera traps to study the behavior of carnivores in response to both the visual signal and the olfactory (smell) signal that skunks advertise their defenses with. After I graduated in 2016, I began teaching part-time at community colleges around Los Angeles. I am so happy to be back in Oregon and teaching full-time here at Chemeketa!