"I feel like she's always teaching on a one-on-one basis," says a student in Professor Joan Lafuze's class. That's a mark of Lafuze's success in tailoring her teaching methods to meet the individual needs of each student. A professor of biology on the IU East campus, Lafuze considers herself a "teammate" with her students in the learning process.

To constantly improve her teaching, she keeps in touch with former students and surveys them once they are involved in careers. Whether they are nurses, physicians, or social workers, she wants to find out how relevant her teaching is to their everyday work. She uses the survey results to adjust her course material to make sure that her students are prepared for future challenges.

Lafuze also develops and teaches courses using distance education via the Web and interactive video. As an Ameritech Fellow, she holds a fellowship to incorporate technology into her teaching.

Her outstanding teaching has been recognized with the university's Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial Award. She is also on the steering committee of the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching.

In addition to teaching, she has research interests in pediatric hematology/oncology. She has worked with faculty members at the IU Medical Center to study white blood cell function, as well as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using molecular techniques. She also studies the biological implications of mental illness and is a core faculty member of the Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research.

Lafuze's interest in mental health extends beyond the university. As a family education specialist for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Professor Lafuze gives frequent presentations on mental health issues in the Richmond area and statewide.