A three-time Husker graduate, Jillian Harpster has been a constant on campus for a while, earning her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate at Nebraska. Now an assistant professor of practice in the College of Education and Human Sciences, she’s on the other side of the desk, shaping the teachers of tomorrow.
But her role goes beyond the lecture hall. Harpster is the point person for secondary English education clinical experiences — so when she’s not on campus, she’s out in Lincoln Public Schools watching students put concepts to practice in their practicum and student teaching classrooms.
Harpster takes us on a trip through her experiences as a Husker undergrad in the 2000s, and what brought her back.
What is your favorite memory from your time as a student?
It would probably be living on Love 3! I’m still close with six or seven of the girls that I met on my floor freshman year. We still get together two or three times a year and reminisce about the time we spent in Neihardt, catching up on what’s going on with us now.
What brought you back to work at your alma mater?
I would say it's the people who brought me back to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. My colleagues — who were once my professors — are incredible at their craft, are brilliant minds in their fields and are overall fantastic humans.
How has campus changed since you were a student?
Gosh, I would say the buildings changed the most! Cather Hall is gone, and the College of Business is totally different. I also now work in a beautiful new building, Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall. It sits atop the site of Mabel Lee, where I used to teach swimming lessons in the basement.
The learning will last for the rest of your life, but grades won’t. Don’t be someone who is overly obsessed with grades to the point that you miss the lessons themselves.
Was there a class, professor or experience that changed your path or shaped who you are today?
I would say my time in Dr. Pascha Stevenson’s English 200 course and the courses I took with Dr. Barbara DiBernard were life-changing experiences. They shaped who I am as a reader and writer, as a thinker, as a human and ultimately as an educator.
What is one piece of advice you’d give a current Nebraska student?
A good piece of advice that, I think, would resonate with students — find your people. Whether that be friends who will be there for all your adult life events and stand by you and behind you no matter what, future colleagues who have the same foundation in their fields as you do, or mentors who continue to pour into you long after you’ve matriculated. Find your people.
What’s something you learned after graduation that you wish you’d known as a student?
The learning will last for the rest of your life, but grades won’t. Don’t be someone who is overly obsessed with grades to the point that you miss the lessons themselves. Show up, listen and do the work of learning. The learning is what will endure through the rest of your life. No one will ask to look at your transcripts five years from now.
