Noran Jean Nealon (SEBS’13) with her cat, Jellybean.
Fourteen years after her first teaching experience as an undergraduate student at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), Nora Jean Nealon (SEBS’13) finds herself just as passionate about and fulfilled by teaching in her current role as a faculty member at the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University.
Her journey to what she considers an enriching career as a teacher began at SEBS. “As someone keenly interested in a biomedical career, I was looking for a school that would allow me to participate in research, early and often. Additionally, as a student particularly excited about life sciences, SEBS and its diversity of majors and undergraduate STEM resources felt like the perfect fit for exploring these options further.”
Another important factor influencing her enrolling at SEBS was being able to participate in the undergraduate General Honors Program. “When I was a student, this was a small program, taking about 20-25 students per year, and we took several courses together. This created a small community within the larger SEBS community, which was nice coming into a large college and a very different environment than where I grew up in Monmouth County, close to the Jersey Shore.”
Nora Jean Nealon, center, with SEBS classmates Kerri Close and Kateria Mankiewicz. Photo: courtesy of Nora Jean Nealon.
The SEBS honors program ignited a passion in Nora Jean for teaching and mentoring.
“In my junior and senior years, I student-taught in honors seminars for first-year students, which made me realize how amazing and rewarding being an instructor and support system for new students could be, especially given what a huge transition it is jumping from high school to a large university.”
A first-generation college student, Nora Jean graduated as a triple major in Animal Science, Biological Sciences, and Nutrition, and a double minor in Endocrine physiology and Health and Companion Animal Science, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade point average.
In addition to that rigorous academic load, Nora Jean worked nearly full-time for a large part of her undergraduate years. One of her jobs was at a local veterinary hospital as an assistant to gain experience for veterinary school.
“I started volunteering at hospitals and clinics as a teenager and I worked my way up to be a veterinary assistant. This confirmed for me that I wanted to work with companion animals (dogs and cats). Other classes at Rutgers, that let me work with livestock (sheep, goats, cows, pigs) and research opportunities that let me work with mice and rats also furthered my interests in veterinary medicine.”
Nora Jean still found time to participate in extracurricular activities at Rutgers. “I was involved in the creation of the Companion Animal Club in 2011, which I founded with several of my classmates, Pauline Chen (MD), Yung Yung Chan (DVM), Rebecca Aguilar (DVM), Sandra Ministro (BS, Animal Sciences, Kateria Mankiewicz (MS, specialist in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection), Jenny Kim (DVM’25), Brandi Hartman (BS, Animal Sciences), Courtney Zinna (DVM), Christopher Lam (DVM) and Santiago Bustamante (DVM).”
Since she graduated from SEBS in 2013, the Companion Animal Club at Rutgers has grown to include student handlers who raise service dogs on campus for local organizations and is one of the largest clubs at the university. “I’m really proud to see a small idea that I had as a teenager take off and make a big impact on the university and larger community, and to the many club officers, who came after me, that took this initial vision and expanded it into the impressive club it is today.”
After graduation, Nora Jean took a gap year to save up for veterinary school applications and travel costs for interviews. “I continued to work as a veterinary assistant, and I also took on a teaching role at Rutgers in the SEBS General Honors Program, where I was a co-instructor in honors seminars. I combined this appointment with my tutoring role at the Rutgers Learning Center, where I continued to teach chemistry and biochemistry to groups of students.”
She then embarked a competitive, seven-year DVM/Ph.D. program at Colorado State University, followed by a postdoctoral fellow and licensed small animal veterinarian at The Ohio State University.
Nora Jean Nealon worked on a farm to gain hands-on experience to become a vet. Photo; courtesy of Nora Jean Nealon.
Like many of her New Jersey peers interested in becoming veterinarians, Nora Jean had to go out-of-state for vet school as there was no such option in-state at the time. The Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University, the first in-state veterinary school, is a “game-changer for qualified and deserving pre-veterinary and pre-graduate school students all over New Jersey, which may not have had the financial means to undertake an out of state veterinary degree or may not have been able to complete their degree out of state for many other reasons,” said Nora Jean. “Getting to teach and shape the future of veterinary and graduate students is a privilege.”
She always saw herself in academia and recalls her mother saying that, as a kid, she used to say she wanted to be “a microbiology professor and also a veterinarian.” She finds it both funny and impressive that she ended up doing exactly that. “Little did I know, I’d someday combine these interests into a faculty position focused on research and teaching in these two areas.”
Her Rutgers experience was the bridge to the career and the professional life she’s always had in mind. “SEBS provided me with a rigorous and robust training in many areas of life science, which were critical for my success in both graduate school and veterinary school, and now as a scientist and small animal veterinarian. I still use so much of what I learned as an undergraduate student today in my career.”
She fervently believes that the personal growth that comes from going to college has also helped her professionally. “My SEBS journey taught me important lessons in time management, effective communication, collaboration, setting healthy boundaries, and prioritizing wellness and mental health.”
She credits her ability to participate in undergraduate research as instrumental in her development as a scientist, allowing her to be accepted into a great Ph.D. training program and leading to a postdoctoral position and now, ultimately, a role as a faculty member at Rowan University. “The endless opportunities at SEBS for students to explore careers in teaching, through tutoring, working as teaching assistants, and getting to help faculty design courses, has helped to shape me into the educator I am today.”
