A Man on a Mission

By Cynthia Quijada, Student Affairs

Have you ever come across an individual who has genuine passion for what he/she does? If so, you may be able to relate to the students from Villa del Puente who have had the great opportunity to have Dr. Mark Riley as their Faculty Fellow for the last few years.

Dr. Riley has been with the UA for over 11 years. He is currently an Associate Professor in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and also has joint appointments in several other departments on campus. He received his Bachelor of Sciences in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his Master’s and Ph.D in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is an extremely active scholar, with a vast array of awards and publications to his credit, from Applied Spectroscopy to Cell Biology and Toxicology.

One of the things Dr. Riley is most proud of, besides being married and having two children, is serving as a Faculty Fellow for the students who reside in the Villa Del Puente housing complex. The Faculty Fellows Program was initiated in 1984 to enable students to have regular access to members of the faculty outside of the classroom. According to Dr. Riley, the program is one of the few opportunities to really connect with students outside of the classroom and on a different level. “As a Faculty Fellow, I believe that I have an opportunity to gauge the pulse of the students and get a sense of what’s important to them.  My Faculty Fellow activities are a reminder of why I wanted to become a professor in the first place,” says Riley.

There are many ways Faculty Fellows across campus engage students in activities. Dr. Riley likes hands-on experiences. He claims he is not much of a cook, but enjoys hosting dinners for the students, especially the do-it-yourself calzones. Recently he has spent a good deal of time helping the students with homework. For Dr. Riley, serving as a Faculty Fellow is a two-way street: he helps students understand the world around them and at the same time, the students help broaden his horizons. For Clayton Hamilton, a junior in Management Information Systems, Faculty Fellows provide a service to students they may not have the chance to take advantage of during the day. “My favorite experience with Dr. Riley would have to be a tutoring event we put on at the beginning of October.  Mark sat at a table with 8 to 12 different students and did an excellent job helping them get a grasp on what they were working on.  Afterwards, we sat around and he gave me some tips on how to approach a letter of intent I was having a tough time completing.”

Much like the field of Biological Engineering, which changes over time, Dr. Riley has observed the same with the students. He points out, “The students now are much more savvy about the world around them.  They pay attention to world events and think about how these can impact their future.  They recognize that society now is truly global.”

Dr. Riley finds it very rewarding to be able to get to know and help the students, even in a small way.

Cynthia Quijada can be contacted via email at cynthian@email.arizona.edu