Every month the Administrative/Professional (A/P) Council highlights an A/P staff member through a series of questions as another way for the Illinois State University community to connect. This month readers can get to know Jeff Helms, pre-health professions advisor and instructional assistant professor for the School of Biological Sciences.
Job title/Position: pre-health professions advisor and instructional assistant professor for the School of Biological Sciences
What are your responsibilities in this role? I teach our non-majors microbiology course, Microbes and Society, and advise all of the pre-health students in the School of Biological Sciences, both on their pre-health pathway and academically.
How long have you been an employee at ISU? I always joke about this, overall or just this time? I was the assistant director for the Bone Student Center from 2005-2008 and then left ISU. I came back to ISU in 2013. Overall, I have worked for ISU for about 12 years. However, I was also a graduate student here and completed my undergraduate degree here, so I have been around Illinois State for about 20 years.
What do you love most about working at ISU? The ability to work with and mentor students has been the primary reason I keep coming back to ISU. Even though we are a relatively large institution, there is a genuine concern for our students’ success, and I gravitate to colleagues who share this value with me.
What is one fact about yourself that might surprise people? My brother and I own a small (1 acre) island on the Canadian side rainy lake that my late father bought back in the ‘60s. And, many people are equally surprised by the fact I have four grandkids, ranging in age from 15 years old to 6 months.
When you’re not working, what are you most likely doing? This depends on the time of year. During the summers, if we are not up at the cabin, you will likely find us overland camping in Montana or Colorado. In the fall, I’m cutting up a winters’ worth of wood to heat our house. Snowshoeing (well, if we get snow) in the winter and just generally spending time with my wife and family outdoors whenever we can.
What is your favorite spot on campus? I have spent most of my time on ISU’s campus in the Science Lab Building (SLB). The fourth floor atrium of SLB is a great place to watch weather and sunsets and to just generally relax and talk with students. As a graduate student, I loved the quiet corners of Milner as a place to get away and read. When I worked in the Bone, the quiet spaces above Braden Auditorium were some of my favorite places to just relax and reset.
What quote most inspires you and why? I have been inspired, mentored, and challenged intellectually by so many authors, people, artists, and scientists that I don’t feel that having just one favorite does justice to all those who have impacted who I am. So, I will cheat and list a few that feel are impactful for me.
“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” ―Richard P. Feynman
“Happiness is not a place.” ―Wind and the Wave
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” ―John Muir
“Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are. We are often like rivers: careless and forceful, timid and dangerous, lucid and muddied, eddying, gleaming, still.” ―Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces
“And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.” ―Aspley Cherry-Garrard