USU Uintah Basin Professor Charles Hanifin Touts Mentorship in Inaugural Lecture

ROOSEVELT, Utah — Utah State University Uintah Basin faculty, staff and students were on hand on March 27 to celebrate the inaugural lecture of Charles Hanifin, newly promoted professor of biology in The College of Arts & Sciences.

Hanifin delivered his lecture, titled "Teaching, Research or Mentorship: Lessons Learned from a Career at a Statewide Campus,” where he explored arriving at his own definition of career success.

Earning the title of full professor is one of the highest honors a faculty member can achieve. It represents years of excellence in instruction, research and service to both the university and community. USU marks this achievement with an inaugural lecture — a tradition where professors promoted in the past year share moments and insights from their academic journey, their research and their hopes for the future.

“From his early days of exploring the natural world in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Hanifin was destined to become a biology professor,” said David Law, associate vice president of USU Uintah Basin. “Charles could have taken his academic talents to any prestigious university, and I am grateful that he chose USU Uintah Basin to practice his craft as a teacher and researcher.

“Charles’s passion for the natural world and biology shines through in everything he does. While Charles is a gifted teacher and researcher, I am most impressed with the deep learning experiences he provides his students through mentoring. Charles’s passion and influence have literally changed for the better his students’ life course.”

Hanifin opened his lecture with a reference to the popular animated TV show “South Park.” He mentioned a specific episode where the main characters realize their underwear is disappearing at night. As part of their investigation, they realize that gnomes are stealing their underpants and taking them to their tree factory. They confront the gnomes and they find out that this scheme is part of their three-step process. They have identified the first and third steps, which are to steal underpants and then get rich off them. However, the protagonists point out the flaw that they are missing step two, or how they get to the desired end result.

While Hanifin admitted this was perhaps a silly and controversial source material to use, he went on to apply this analogy to his academic and teaching journey, sharing what he feels is his step two of achieving success.

“What I'm talking to you about today is not necessarily what everybody should do, but it's my journey about how I answered this,” Hanifin said. “What was phase two for me?”

Hanifin gave a short snapshot of several of his research projects on the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin. Many of these research projects have been in tandem or in conjunction with his wife, Shana Geffeney, who is also an associate professor of biology at USU Uintah Basin. Hanifin talked about building upon research and collaborating with students along the way.

Through his examples, Hanifin progressed from solitary research to collaborative research with colleagues to involving students and eventually to student-led research as a mentor. He concluded that, to him, success in his position is achieved as he becomes a mentor and helps students feel like they are not just learners but contributors to the scientific community. His step two is being a mentor.

“Mentorship and research make learners,” he said. “It fundamentally changes students’ perspective about themselves. It fundamentally changes to that they see themselves not just as part of a scientific community, but as part of an active learning community. And it changes how they see their ability to learn. I think that this funnel of mentorship has been a significant pathway towards my success.”

Hanifin then encouraged other professors to think of mentoring as something of value to themselves as well as to students. He shared his opinion that this is why students want to come to Utah State, because they can become involved early in research and receive mentorship. And that doesn’t just happen in Logan, but at any Statewide Campus.

“We offer a pathway to success through this that is really, really meaningful,” he said. “It's what makes us different.”

Hanifin is a USU alumnus, graduating with his doctorate in biology in 2005. He went on to do his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. He joined the USU Uintah Basin faculty in 2012 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2018. Hanifin’s research focuses on the molecular evolution and functional genomics of proteins, the evolutionary ecology of tetrodotoxin toxicity in salamanders and the ecology and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the Intermountain West.

Operating campuses in Vernal and Roosevelt for more than 50 years, Utah State University Uintah Basin gives students the personalized attention and small class sizes of a small-town college with the resources of a large university, all in the backdrop of the outdoor oasis that is the Uinta Mountains and Ashley National Forest. With degree options ranging from associate to doctorate degrees and more than 125 programs available, as well as access to the renowned Bingham Research Center, USU Uintah Basin offers programs that help fuel local economies and empower individuals and their communities. Learn more at uintahbasin.usu.edu.