Additionally—in a field which is often perceived as focusing on calculations and not communication—Goach methodically develops her students’ abilities to not only master the material but to effectively write and talk about their findings, as well.
Focus on Students
As Goach prepared to take her first tenure-track job in 2006, she realized that she had been highly trained in her field but not well prepared to actually teach Chemistry. This reality is one reason Goach chose the job at Monmouth; she knew that retiring Chemistry professor Richard “Doc” Keift would offer strong pedagogical mentorship if she were nearby. As she carries on Keift’s legacy of generous mentorship, Goach says that he “lives on every day in all the work” that she and her students do.
In learning how to become an effective classroom teacher, Goach has become vitally interested in supporting every student’s success. Alex Blom—professor of Physical Science and program director of Mathematics and Physical Science at Alverno College—sees that vital interest play out in her “way of connecting with students that is unusual” in the sciences. As a visiting assistant professor, Blom sat in on Goach’s analytical chemistry class with the goal of learning her teaching techniques. He noticed that Goach is “bluntly honest and forthcoming with students—about her expectations and about how they should be growing as learners.” If the class does not grasp some of the course content, Goach invariably changes her class plan “on the fly,” working with the material until each student understands it. David Wright—professor of English at Monmouth College—reports that he has learned “quite a bit” from Goach’s approach to teaching, and he points out that she is also a “model for many women on campus, particularly in STEM. Some of her mentoring comes in the form of helping students think about how they interact with a powerful female presence in the room.”
Goach has opportunities to inspire students outside of the Chemistry major, as well. For one example, she teaches a forensic science class each spring that is quite popular with students in a variety of majors. In this class, students learn real-world techniques for crime scene investigation. As a culminating activity in the class, Goach collaborates with other faculty members to create a “real life” crime scene on campus. The year that Blom was there, the scenario was that a student had been attacked in an elevator, and Blom himself was the “perpetrator.” The meticulously-planned crime scene was filled with as many realistic details as possible; Blom even bought duct tape from a specific retail outlet so that the receipt—with his fingerprints on it—could be left on the scene. The students investigated the scene and ended up fingerprinting and questioning him to solve the case. Such activities demonstrate the ways that Goach goes far beyond expectations to connect her students with classroom content. In a mark of just how effective her pedagogical methods are, Goach has been recognized for excellence in teaching with Monmouth’s alum-nominated Hatch award. She is honored to have received the award, chiefly because “You don’t know how you’ve impacted them, how well they felt mentored and cared for.”
Student Research and Mentoring
As Goach began her work at Monmouth, she also realized she had not been trained to oversee researchers her own labs, where she builds on her doctoral and post-doc work with model cell membranes, time-of-flight (ToF) spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Her lack of specific training for overseeing student researchers was particularly daunting in her first year, when she and Biochemistry colleague Laura Moore—also new to campus—shared responsibility for all senior chemistry research projects. The two colleagues guided the students to the best of their abilities, and many of their students were accepted to present posters at the American Chemical Society that year. This conference led to Goach meeting her research mentor, Colorado State University professor Debbie Crans. Crans—an accomplished researcher who later received the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry —saw possibilities of collaboration between her own research and Goach’s; she got in touch, and the two have been collaborating ever since. Goach accredits much of her own success to having benefitted from Crans’ guidance as a female mentor.
Wright admires the way that Goach has become “an exceptional mentor for all students,” with her guidance beginning at Monmouth and continuing for many students as they pursue their careers. Goach’s students regularly present at national Chemistry conferences, which is unusual for undergraduate students. Blom attributes her students’ conference acceptances to the way that Goach “instills a culture of students gaining confidence” by creating a “supportive, positive environment for research.” Goach also includes students as co-authors on many of the peer-reviewed journal articles she has published, and she maintains strong relationships with many alums in an array of positions, including industry, high school teaching, and medical and graduate school placements.
Chris Knutson—IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering Lab manager at the University of Iowa—is one of those students who maintains a relationship with Goach. He states that Goach has been a “mentor and guiding force” in his life as he served as a teaching assistant and tutor in her classes. Knutson values the fact that Monmouth’s smaller class sizes allow faculty members to give attention to reading, writing, and communicating, and he keenly appreciates Goach’s strong emphasis on all three skills. Her students clearly learn the discipline of Chemistry, but they also learn to effectively communicate their ideas to others.
Knutson offers an example of Goach’s mentorship extending beyond the Monmouth campus. When Knutson was applying to graduate programs, Goach went out of her way to drive him to the University of Iowa and introduce him to Monmouth alums on the faculty there. Knutson says that these connections were extremely helpful to him as he applied and was accepted to the program. After earning his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Iowa, he was hired to his current position, in which he oversees twenty-one labs, eighty researchers, and nine buildings on campus. Because he experienced the sense of community that a small college can provide, Knutson now focuses on providing that same sense of community to the researchers he oversees. He largely attributes to Goach his focus on building community, developing his student researchers’ communication skills, and seeing the value in each person individually. Like Knutson, many of Goach’s students follow her trajectory from a small liberal arts undergraduate experience to a large state school for doctoral work. Goach earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Muhlenberg College, then attained her PhD in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University and completed post-doctoral work at University of Pennsylvania.
Summer Research Opportunities
In addition to overseeing student researchers throughout the academic year, Goach works with her Chemistry department colleagues to run the eight-week summer research program underwritten by a bequest from Keift. This program provides housing, a stipend, and research supplies to students who participate, allowing as many as ten students to pursue a variety of research questions relating to synthesis, the microbiome, and both human and bacterial cellular membranes. During the summer program, Knutson also invites Monmouth’s students to tour his labs at the University of Iowa to see what graduate school looks like; and he states that he would not have thought of offering this opportunity to Monmouth students if Goach hadn’t brought him to the campus before he applied to grad school.
For the last two summers, Goach has also taken part in Monmouth’s Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activities (SOfIA) program, in which incoming first-year students dive into academic inquiry as their introduction to college life. Participating students work in groups of two or three with a faculty member and returning student mentor to conduct meaningful research during the three-week program. Two years ago, Goach teamed up with Wright to guide students in building an escape room for others to enjoy. Wright’s students wrote the story behind the installment, while Goach’s students placed the clues and learned the lab work to analyze them. The team developed four rooms, with one suspect to be eliminated in each room. In the first week, Goach’s group learned how to do the experiments; the second week, they developed the clues, and in the third week, they built the rooms. Despite a few stressful moments in packing this ambitious project into such a short time, Goach reports that the process was a wonderful—and memorable—experience for the students. Goach and Wright will speak about this project in a pedagogical presentation at the March 2026 American Chemical Society meeting.
Last summer, Goach again teamed up with Wright for SOfIA, this time focusing their offering on the “CSI effect”—the ways that crime dramas affect popular perceptions of crime scene investigation and judicial proceedings. All students watched CSI, then Wright’s students analyzed the show as a procedural drama, while Goach’s students analyzed the plot lines for scientific accuracy. The students then interviewed many of their fellow SOfIA students, surveying to find out how much their understanding of crime and court proceedings was affected by exposure to shows like CSI. This SOfIA session culminated in the students compiling a podcast to report their findings.
Faculty Service
Mark Willhardt—vice president for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Monmouth College—notes that one thing that distinguishes Goach is that she is “not only great in the classroom, but she is also dedicated to service.” When she served on the faculty senate, including a term as its chair, Willhardt admired the way that Goach was “very effective in representing faculty concerns in conversation with college administration and board”; she was able to vigorously represent the faculty point of view while “balancing interests in an issue.” Having served the maximum number of terms on faculty senate, Goach now brings her deep institutional knowledge to the campus budget committee, where her “ability to see the whole of the college” and “deep, clear insights” help the committee move forward with its work.
Goach has recently been tapped to chair the newly formed School of Health and Natural Sciences; she says she’s been spending “lots of time figuring out” that role and how it differs from chairing the three-person Chemistry Department, as she had done previously. Currently in her 20th year at Monmouth, she sees this moment as a natural time to step into an administrative role. The new school brings together disparate programs, including Health Sciences and Human Movement, Exercise Science, Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Physical Education, Health Education, Nursing 3+1 Programs, and several pre-professional programs. Willhardt was delighted to see Goach step into the new chair role, citing her ability to apply her experience as a faculty advocate to the “kinds of decisions that need to be made with multiple constituents.” He sees her “drawing diverse faculty into a cohesive group,” which is a “strength she’s had and is really developing now.”
Goach’s accomplishments over her 20 years in higher education provide an inspiring model for other college and university professors to emulate. She continues to publish, both on her own and in collaboration with colleagues and students, and she is committed to fulfilling her faculty service roles to her utmost ability. Most of all, Goach has developed a keen appreciation of the role mentorship plays in her own and her students’ academic lives. As she mentors her own students, she cultivates their communication skills and continues to support them as they pursue a variety of successful careers. Seeing students succeed with her support has led Goach to “truly believe in mentorship.” As she points out, “If you can help someone, you should.”
