Jeanette Oliver

Drawn to Flathead Valley Community College by her love of teaching and passion for the outdoors, Biology Professor Jeanette Oliver combines both interests as an instructor at FVCC. “I like to botanize and hike,” she says. Professor Oliver often takes botany classes to Glacier National Park and Flathead Forest for field study. Throughout her 27 years of teaching at FVCC, she’s taught a tremendous variety of courses within the biology department.

The first part of her teaching career began at Purdue, and she also taught for 10 years at Ball State University. At FVCC, she enjoys the close contact she has with students—something that wasn’t possible in the large university environments.

“I have a running sheet of ex-students that I’ve kept since I came in 1980,” says Professor Oliver. “We have small enough classes that we get to know our students. We are able to follow them as they transfer to universities and even as they work afterwards.

“Being in the science area, I view my job as getting students ready to go to the university so they can get a degree that will make them employable to come back as a teacher, a nurse or whatever they can imagine.”