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Home > News > Joan Burggraf Riley (N'76, G'97

Joan Burggraf Riley

Students Keep Riley on the Hilltop

Faculty Focus: Joan Burggraf Riley (N'76, G'97)

It has been more than 30 years since Joan Burggraf Riley graduated from Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS). She practiced nursing for 10 months after graduation. But in July 1977, she returned to campus as a teaching assistant. The students, she says, keep her on the Hilltop.

"What keeps me here is that I truly love working with Georgetown students," said Riley, assistant professor at NHS and a family nurse practitioner in Georgetown University Student Health Center. "As involved faculty members, we can make an incredible difference in helping them achieve their personal growth and development. That's what I so enjoy. I find that so energizing."

Helping students develop into healthy and reflective adults drives Riley's work. Her course focuses on health promotion and encourages students-in their learning process of scientific inquiry and discovery-to examine their own behaviors.

Riley's teaching and research on health promotion are part of an educational trend termed "curriculum infusion," in which faculty members across disciplines teach theoretical concepts using important issues from students' lives.

"We look at alcohol from multiple perspectives," she said. "At the same time, we motivate the students to reflect, which is a very valuable component of the Jesuit philosophy of education. We get them to look at their own behavior and ways they may change their behavior to be safer."

For example, according to Riley, James Sandefur, professor of mathematics, took the alcohol issue into his math modeling class. There, students calculate blood alcohol levels.

Alisa Carse, associate professor of philosophy, raised the issue of alcohol use and violence against the philosophical backdrop of human flourishing, freedom, and consequences.

Riley's deep concern for students' health and well-being has gained notice. In April 2006, she was recognized as Outstanding Faculty Member by the university's Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service.

"She possesses a remarkable understanding of faculty and student growth," said NHS Dean Bette Keltner. "She brings a discipline to her work and cultivates those attributes in a new generation. She also has an infectious laugh and an innate joy in the art of learning. I don't think you walk down the hallway or into the classroom with Joan and not appreciate that joy."

Her willingness to give back, she says, was born at Georgetown.

"What I loved about Georgetown as an undergraduate was how the university fostered the realization that we are each part of a greater world," said Riley. "While you can have personal goals of family, job satisfaction, and even wealth, you must assume concurrent responsibility for promoting the common good."

Since 1977, she has lived out that sense of responsibility through teaching and clinical work. In addition, she and her husband, Stephen Riley (F'76), parents of Kate and Annie, have also given back to Georgetown through their support of scholarships and classroom space in St. Mary's.

"What I love most about being at Georgetown is my daily work with and exposure to our wonderful students," Riley said. "What better way to give back to Georgetown than to support our students directly. That can and should be our legacy."

A longer version of this story originally appeared in an issue ofHealth Care Horizons magazine.

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