Faculty Profile for Dr. Michele Fissel

Biography Section

Biography and Education

I am from a little west Texas town called Uvalde, where I spent 25 years as a tenured community college professor teaching biology courses. The courses I taught were Zoology, Environmental Biology, Anatomy/Physiology, and Non-Majors Biology. I often weave some of that information into various lectures to keep things interesting and relevant.

In all of the years I have taught I have never lost the excitement I feel every day engaging with my students in the class, and most recently online. It was the best career choice I could have made for myself and my desire to have time for a family and give something back. I consider teaching others to be the ultimate form of true public service, and I am always honored to be given that opportunity every time I begin a new semester with a new group of students:)

I am a lifelong learner and I am always looking for opportunities to grow in my knowledge and share those teachings with my students.

My degrees are as follows, I have an undergraduate degree from the University of Incarnate Word (UIW) in biology with a chemistry minor (B.S, 1991), a Master's from UIW in biology with an education minor (M.A., 1993), a second Master's from Sul Ross University in Education with an emphasis on school administration (M.Ed., 1998) , and my Ph.D. (2018) from Texas State University focused on the field of aquatic biology.

Teaching Interests

Zoology, Environmental Biology, Anatomy/Physiology, and Non-Majors Biology

Research Interests

My research for my aquatic biology doctoral program at Texas State University examined the impact of light reduction and biomass production for an endemic federally protected aquatic plant species called Texas wild rice (Zizania texana). My 3 year long field study took place within the San Marcos River and the constructed flumes behind the Freeman Aquatic building located here on campus.