{"id":3943,"date":"2026-10-23T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=3943"},"modified":"2026-10-22T22:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T03:10:48","slug":"faculty-friday-meet-eulandria-biddle-from-bugs-in-her-pockets-to-teaching-microbiology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/10\/23\/faculty-friday-meet-eulandria-biddle-from-bugs-in-her-pockets-to-teaching-microbiology\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Friday: Meet Eulandria Biddle, From Bugs In Her Pockets To Teaching Microbiology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eulandria Biddle In Her Office. Photo By: Josiah Nelson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Eulandria Biddle was about 7 years old when her mom bought her first microscope for Christmas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was already the kind of kid who collected butterflies and grasshoppers, and when she had nowhere else to put them, they went in her pockets. Her mom admitted she was sometimes afraid to do the laundry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That curiosity followed Biddle all the way through a doctoral program, where she taught anatomy and physiology and microbiology as a teaching assistant. Even then, teaching wasn\u2019t the plan. Speaking in front of people made her nervous, so after graduating, she went into research and spent five or six years working in industry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually she realized she missed the classroom.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Microbiology, the subject she now teaches at Johnson County Community College, didn\u2019t come easily either. Biddle failed the course the first time she took it. The second time, she dropped it before she could fail again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe third time was the charm,\u201d Biddle said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Biddle starts with simple explanations and builds a strong foundation before moving into harder concepts. Students work through problems together at the board, where getting something wrong is part of the process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI tell them that that\u2019s the only way we learn is to make mistakes,\u201d Biddle said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Claire Anderson enrolled in Biddle\u2019s microbiology class, she didn\u2019t expect to become fascinated by the subject. Biddle made an impression right away.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting her was a breath of fresh air and it really set the tone for the class,\u201d Anderson wrote in an email.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson ended up loving the class so much that she returned the following semester as an embedded tutor. Biddle remembers watching her go from asking questions in class to helping other students in the lab.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to have so much fun and become so fascinated in microbiology,\u201d Anderson wrote. \u201cI mean that truthfully,\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isabella Barone could tell from her first lab that Biddle loved her subject. Over the semester, she came to believe Biddle might be \u201ceven more passionate about being a teacher,\u201d Barone wrote in an email.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Barone saw that commitment firsthand about a month into the semester, when she went to office hours after wrestling with her lab notebook entries. She wanted to understand how each experiment fit into the class\u2019s semester-long research project. Biddle spent almost an hour walking her through the purpose behind each lab and what the results meant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the same time, Biddle noticed that much of the class was struggling with the conclusion sections of their notebooks. Instead of moving on, she had students resubmit their entries and regraded them, this time with conclusion questions to guide them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first time I\u2019ve had a professor adapt their instruction mid-semester to better meet the needs of their students,\u201d Barone wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The class wasn\u2019t easy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer class was enjoyable, but so stressful,\u201d Barone wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was always a lot to learn and not much lab time to learn it. Still, the experiments kept things exciting. Barone\u2019s favorite was the endospore stain, which involved applying stain to her bacteria, lighting it on fire and repeating the process before finally seeing the endospores under the microscope.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson put it simply. Microbiology can be difficult, and school in general can be difficult, but Biddle\u2019s effort made the class manageable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer energy is contagious,\u201d Anderson wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between the lab notebooks, the research paper and the poster symposium at the end of the semester, the learning curve was steep. By the time Barone stood up to present her research, the effort had paid off.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was proud of myself not only for getting through the semester, but because I felt I really produced something worth sharing,\u201d Barone wrote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That moment is one of Biddle\u2019s favorite parts of the job. Students are often nervous when they first learn they\u2019ll have to present, but by the end of the semester, they\u2019re smiling and confident in their work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a proud moment,\u201d Biddle said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Erin Buller saw that pride firsthand. When her class presented their Tiny Earth projects, Biddle was smiling from ear to ear as she listened to each student share their findings, Buller recalled in an email.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProfessor Biddle won\u2019t let you fall behind,\u201d Buller wrote. \u201cShe wants you to succeed and will do everything in her power to help you out.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Anderson, Biddle\u2019s support didn\u2019t end with the semester. Biddle wrote a letter of recommendation for Anderson\u2019s dental school application, and one of Biddle\u2019s favorite memories is the day Anderson called to tell her she\u2019d been accepted.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Away from the microscope, Biddle has a few interests her students might not guess. She\u2019s a longtime mixed martial arts fan who enjoys watching UFC fights, and when she isn\u2019t cheering on a fighter, she might be at a bowling alley. She even ran a small business at one point, making her own handmade soap and lotion.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since moving to Kansas City about two and a half years ago, she has spent much of her free time getting to know the city, whether that means checking out a local festival or trying a new restaurant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Biddle once struggled to pass microbiology herself. Anderson went on to tutor it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBe prepared to fall in love with microbiology,\u201d Anderson wrote, \u201cbecause Dr. Biddle absolutely has that effect!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microbiology, the subject she now teaches at Johnson County Community College, didn\u2019t come easily either. Biddle failed the course the first time she took it. The second time, she dropped it before she could fail again.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[365],"class_list":["post-3943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/DSC0719-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/gabrielle-thompson\/","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 days ago","modified":"Updated 3 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 23, 2026","modified":"Updated on October 22, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 23, 2026 9:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 22, 2026 10:10 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":365,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"gabrielle-thompson","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/DSC0719.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3945,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943\/revisions\/3945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3943"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}