Sharon Balchak, Ph.D., professor of biology and chair of the Division of Science and Mathematics, and David J. Kirby, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, both have been awarded the 2021 Marie Goetz Geier Distinguished Professor of STEM distinction.
The family and friends of the late Marie Goetz Geier, represented by Richard, Robert and Thomas Geier, established the Marie Goetz Geier Endowment for STEM Education and Professors in STEM Education. Named in honor of their late wife and mother, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1960, the endowment is dedicated to supporting and growing the College’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs and to establish three Distinguished STEM Professorships.
Sharon Balchak
Prior to receiving 2021’s Marie Goetz Geier Distinguished Professor of STEM Award, Balchak won the Distinguished Faculty Award and was recognized with the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE) Award for Teaching Excellence, both in 2004. Balchak, an alumna of the College, began teaching at Notre Dame in 1999.
At the College, Balchak develops and leads classes in biology, ecology, anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, limnology and environmental chemistry, among others. She has served on several Notre Dame academic committees, such as Educational Policy and Planning, including as chair; Steering; Advising; and the Nursing Program Committee.
Additionally, Balchak has advised science majors, she has been faculty advisor of the student environmental club and co-faculty advisor for the biology club.
Upon earning a B.S. in biology from Notre Dame in 1984, this distinguished faculty member worked more than 10 years as a technologist at Cleveland Clinic. While at the Clinic, Balchak also completed her M.S. in ecology from John Carroll University. She received her Ph.D. in physiology from Kent State University while working at Cleveland Clinic, as well. Her dissertation was on “Characterization of the Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Subtypes in Early Ovarian Development in the Rat.”
Balchak completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, where she worked on a course in toxicology with the Environmental Protection Agency.
She has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Audubon Society. She is a part of Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society based on science and engineering.
David J. Kirby
Kirby, associate professor of chemistry, advises the Student Pre-engineering STEM Club at Notre Dame and assists students with undergraduate research and projects with Honors Scholars.
He has presented his own research, “Using Ideas from Gen-Chem II to Assemble Nanomaterials: Tailoring Substrate-to-Particle Interactions to Direct the Assembly of Nanowire Arrays,” during the 2021 Celebration of Scholarship. Additionally, he published “Assembly of Gold Nanowires on Gold Nanostripe Arrays: Simulation and Experiment,” in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C in 2020.
Two of Kirby’s other Geier grant-funded science programs at the College include “An Exploration of Enzyme Catalysts and Attachment Chemistries in an Enzymatic Fuel Cell” and “Lightboard-Enhanced Videos for Science and Mathematics Instruction.” Both were conducted in collaboration with David E. Orosz, Ph.D., interim provost, professor of biochemistry and the third Marie Goetz Geier Distinguished Professor of STEM at the College.
He created Notre Dame’s Lightboard Studio, a “white” board made of glass that is flooded with light and used for video lectures. This board allows the professor to face students from behind the glass while writing, and the information is inverted for the class to read.
Kirby earned his doctorate in chemistry at The Pennsylvania State University. He has previously served as a lecturer at a Penn State branch campus, lab supervisor and teaching assistant at the main campus and as a peer tutor at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa. In 2009 and 2010, Kirby was awarded the Penn State Roberts Fellowship, and in 2011, he was recognized with the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention.
Recently, Kirby was promoted to associate professor. He joined the College as an assistant professor in 2016.
While at Notre Dame, Kirby manages the Ohio Department of Education’s “Choose Ohio First” STEM Scholar program, which offers tuition assistance, internships and cocurricular activities for students majoring in science and mathematics.
About the Distinction
The distinguished professor title, which is awarded to three Notre Dame faculty members, was created in 2017 with the $1.5 million gift of the Marie Goetz Geier Endowment for STEM Education and Professors in STEM Education. Alumna Marie Goetz Geier served as a faculty and staff member at Notre Dame. She also was the first woman named to the College Board of Trustees, formerly the Advisory Board.
Balchak and David are the fifth and sixth faculty to receive this distinction. Orosz was among the first honorees. The rank initially was given to former faculty members, M. Logan Johnson, Ph.D.; Tracey Meilander, Ph.D.; and the late Josephine Pophal, MBA and B.S. engineering.
November 2021
By Kimberly T. Krozser
About Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts college in South Euclid, Ohio, committed to teaching students how to make a good living and live a good life. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922, the College offers bachelor’s degrees in 30 disciplines plus a variety of master’s degrees, certification programs and continuing and professional development programs for adult learners on campus and online. For more information, visit NotreDameCollege.edu.