EP03 Meet the Team - Mary Beth McKee

 

 

This is Vet Tech Talk, a podcast about Appalachian State University's online four year bachelor of science in veterinary technology degree program. Welcome back! I'm your host, Dave Blanks! In this episode, you’ll hear some familiar voices as well as a new one! I welcome back Program Director Virginia Corrigan and Assistant Program Director Jen Serling to the studio and we meet Lead Instructional Designer, Mary Beth McKee for the very first time. We’ll learn more about her role in the program and hear about how she joined the team as well as the animals in her life. We also discuss building a brand new program with compassionate experts, dive deeper into curriculum and explore a few of the many career paths the program will prepare you for. Now, onto the conversation!

 

 

Dave:

I'm here with the entire crew from the Appalachian State Veterinary Technology Program, a new program here at App just starting this year. We have Jen Serling. Hello, Jen. How are you?

Jen Serling:

Hello. Thank you.

Dave:

I'm glad you're back. Welcome back to studio.

Jen Serling:

Thank you.

Dave:

Yes, Virginia Corrigan is here also, Virginia, you're the Program Director. Jen, the Assistant Program Director. Hello, Virginia.

Virginia Corrigan:

Good morning.

Dave:

How are you?

Virginia Corrigan:

I'm fantastic. How are you today?

Dave:

Most excellent. I'm very good. But we're joined by someone that we haven't had in studio before, Mary Beth McKee. Hello, Mary Beth.

Mary Beth McKee:

Hello there.

Dave:

How do you do?

Mary Beth McKee:

I'm doing fantabulous.

Dave:

Well, good. So you've been at Appalachian State since '99?

 

Mary Beth McKee:

Yes, a number of years.

Dave:

Yes, right. And you've worked in a variety of places on campus. What have you been doing on campus and what are you doing now with the Veterinary Technology Program?

Mary Beth McKee:

Well, I can remember actually, when the Chancellor first announced the program, and I was surprised because I was like, "Veterinary Technology, how is it I've never heard about this?"

Dave:

Right?

Mary Beth McKee:

I'm a dog lover, I love this stuff. And I started talking to people and I worked in the Center for Academic Excellence.

Dave:

What is the Center for Academic Excellence do? Does it ensure that we're academically excellent at Appalachian State?

Mary Beth McKee:

Obviously, that's the mission statement. But it's looking for ways to help faculty, staff, and students. So teaching with technology is a big core component, but also faculty development.

Dave:

Oh. You're starting at the ground floor of this program, which is something different than what you've done previously.

 

 

Mary Beth McKee:

Absolutely. In my previous role, you would get assigned to a college like Arts and Sciences or Health Sciences, and you support them, faculty, for all their technology needs. So with this program, I changed titles. I'm the Lead Instructional Designer.

But what appeals to me is working with faculty from the ground up and just really saying, "What is your course about? Where do we want to take these students? What's an engaging way?" Being a fully online program, it's a different ballgame.

Dave:

Absolutely. So what are some things you're excited about?

Mary Beth McKee:

Well, the thing with the new program, Dave, it's just so dang new. You know what I mean?

Dave:

It's true. You can't describe it any other way really.

Mary Beth McKee:

When we joke about being the gang and the team, you're looking at them. We haven't hired a lot of faculty yet. But one thing I have really loved is the veterinary community, they have to be the warmest, most compassionate people who really care about putting good people in the field. These are compassionate people who want it to succeed. So it is great to partner with them and say, "What's your course about? Tell me about that." And looking for ways to help that content be engaging for students, even though they might be in Tucson, Arizona.

Dave:

Right, absolutely. As it's a case with Jen, which we learned on her visit with us. So it does seem like Jen and Virginia, and y'all could possibly speak to this, these people are so compassionate. Y'all really care so much about what you're doing. How are y'all going to find people that care as much as you do? How do you interview somebody and decide if they care about it?

Jen Serling:

It's definitely a process. I mean, it's a pretty rigorous interview process to go through and it'll be probably something very similar in regards to faculty. But we've just hired a Clinical Coordi