NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
http://www.nsula.edu/news
7/10/2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Bringing science laboratories to state-of-the-art condition and updating course syllabi are top priorities for Dr. Zafer Hatahet, newly-appointed head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Northwestern State University.
Hatahet earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology at University of Detroit and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at McGill University. He completed post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Vermont, where he began his career as a research assistant in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. He later was associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Health Center in Tyler and served as an adjunct member of the graduate faculty at Stephen F. Austin before joining the faculty at Northwestern two years ago as a professor of in the department of biological sciences. Hatahet’s research interests are in oxidative DNA damage and repair.
At NSU, Hahahet has served as chairman of the Pre-Med Advisory Committee and is an animal of the Animal Welfare Committee and the Faculty Senate Standards Committee, following service in faculty senates and advisory committees at previous universities. He has served as a research mentor to several NSU students and has been successful in securing thousands of dollars in grants to purchase, modernize and install new lab equipment at NSU.
“Biology is a very fast-moving field. In biology, the books that are three years old are outdated. Equipment from 10 years ago is outdated,” Hatahet said. He recently secured grants to install a modern genetics and molecular biology teaching lab, install computers in lecture and lab rooms, purchase equipment and modernize the introductory biology lab.
“Classes should have labs. What you read in a book or hear in a lecture is reinforced with hands-on experience,” said Hatahet, who believes that research experience in a state of the art lab prepares an undergraduate for a Ph.D. lab. “They can learn skills that are comparable to students at larger universities with huge resources.”
Hatahet plans to review courses to ensure that the extensive core requirements in biological sciences build upon each other.
“We will try in the next two years to have a more integrated curriculum so that what the students are learning is in the service of the other sciences,” he said, explaining that technological upgrades also have positive effects in this area. “In science, the tools have changed. Why teach the old technology the students are never going to use?
Hatahet hopes that by modernizing the labs and bringing the curriculum up to date, NSU students as well prepared as possible for careers in medicine, biotechnology and the biopharmaceutical industry.
“In order to get jobs when they graduate, they need to have experience with the technology that is being used right now. We can train the students for jobs in these areas and advise them about opportunities that exist. We can also establish connections with companies that are hiring and train the students to have a strong work ethic so that they represent us well in those industries,” he said.
“One thing I’m most proud of is that some of my former students are now professors. I feel most proud for the ones that outdo me. I try to motivate that in the students,” he said. “The most satisfying feeling is if you give someone information and then you can see their brain working.”
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