Reflections Magazine Issue #83 - Fall 2015 | Page 14

Feature Article

Personal Trainer

C

arl Kaster’s father wanted
him to be physician.
“When I was a college undergraduate, if people asked me what I wanted
to do when I graduated, I always said
‘medicine,’ ” he said. “If I said medicine,
I didn’t have to talk about it any more,
because they all knew what that meant.
You wanted to be a physician.”
In fact, after working as an extern
at an internal medicine private practice
for a couple of years, he was ready to
enter medical school at the University
of Louisville.

14 | Reflections Fall ’15

Three-Time Rice Award Winner Carl Kaster
Helps Biology Students Take ‘The Next Step’
“I met with the medical school dean,”
Kaster said. “When we got through
with that interview, he gave me the best
advice I had had at that point. He said,
‘Stop thinking about doing what your
family wants you to do. Do what you
want to do. … You don’t want to be a
physician, you want to be somebody who
is training physicians.’ So here I am.”
So here he is at Siena Heights University, beginning his 34th year on campus
as a professor of biology. Last spring,
Kaster was honored with the Eileen K.
Rice Award for Outstanding Teaching for
the third time, which is more than any
other SHU faculty member. And

although many things have changed
since he arrived on campus in the summer of 1982, some constants remain.
“Back in the 80s, parents saw us as
some place their children are safe, and
that hasn’t changed,” Kaster said. “Our
students were also very provincial. I had
students who had never been south of
Findlay, Ohio. I had students who had
never seen a cow, other than pictures. …
It’s a little bit better today. But in terms
of being provincial, our students are still
very provincial. Students who have been
accepted into graduate and professional
schools in big cities are really afraid to
go until we talk to them a little while.”