By: Isabella Lebron and Dr. Vicky Klima
Dr. Rachel Bleich, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, joined the Honors College in August of 2025 as the academic mentor for Honors College students majoring in biology. Interim Deam Dr. Vicky Klima explained that “Rachel has spent years mentoring biology students through research, internships, and course projects. Her own research crosses disciplinary boundaries, and she's supporting students in bringing that same spirit of collaboration to their own work.” She further stated,
As an Honors Academic Mentor, she’s helping students grow beyond the classroom, take on new challenges, and bring their whole selves to their learning.
Dr. Bleich is committed to helping honors students in any way she can. Whether that is introducing them to their research mentor, helping them create stepping stones— processes and classes students need to take— or sharing resources on and around campus to help them reach their goals. About her new position, Dr. Bleich shared,
To me, mentoring Biology students is about working with students one-on-one to help them achieve their goals (in college and for their post-graduation plans) and helping them navigate the biology and honors requirements for their programs of study. I really enjoy meeting with students and getting to know them and their goals. It is also very rewarding when I can help ease their concerns and answer questions clarifying expectations and next steps for their degree.
Honors College academic mentors play a crucial role in fulfilling our Honors College mission to support students’ individual holistic development and engagement beyond themselves, across disciplinary boundaries, and in collaboration with others. Honors College mentors empower and engage students by collaborating with them to:
- Strategically navigate the Honors curriculum, major decisions, and general education choices to explore and define personal and professional long-term goals, including plans for post-graduate education or employment.
- Identify and pursue co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to further refine and achieve their goals.
- Become leaders, healthy, well-balanced community members, and engaged local-global citizens.
Honors College mentors begin working with students before they arrive on campus, partnering with them at their Honors Orientation to develop plans for completing their undergraduate requirements, including majors, minors, and general education. Honors College advising is unique in that advisors support their students for the entire duration of their time at Appalachian. Even after they declare their majors, mentors continue to guide students through University Honors requirements such as interdisciplinary coursework, international education, and the completion of their Honors thesis.
Reflecting on her mentorship role in the Honors College, Dr. Bleich stated, “A big part of it is being available to meet with students as needed and establishing trust and rapport. It is also showing up outside of regular semester meetings for honors defenses, orientations, graduations, etc... to build that connection.” She further explained,
During meetings and things, it also takes being a willing listener who can help them troubleshoot and find resources with kindness and patience.
Many Honors College mentors are also faculty members in their advising area, teaching one course fewer than they would otherwise and reassigning that time to Honors College mentoring. As established professionals with terminal degrees, Honors College mentors are well-connected in their fields and best-positioned to understand available opportunities. Their professional expertise and experiences, combined with the personal relationships they develop with students, allow them to connect each student with international programs, internships, research experiences, and leadership opportunities that specifically support that student’s success.
About her work as a faculty member, Dr. Bleich states, “As an assistant professor my time is divided between teaching classes like Microbiology, Microbiome Research, and Biological Concepts, doing research with undergraduate and master’s students in my lab, and various service responsibilities that include advising.” Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, North Carolina Policy Collaboratory, and internal grants from Research Institute for Environment, Energy, and Economics, Undergraduate Research Council, Office of Student Research, and College of Arts and Sciences. Rachel teaches Microbiology lecture and labs, Biological Concepts I, and a capstone seminar in Microbiome Research.
Dr. Bleich initially began as a chemistry major in her undergraduate degree but fell in love with microbiology in a research program. She explained, “This research involved extracting natural products (or compounds with potential medicinal properties) from natural sources like plants and bacteria. It was during this research I learned some of the basics of microbiology and the interesting molecules they can make and it got me hooked. While I was in graduate school, some really cool research on the role and function of the human microbiome was being published and I realized what an exciting area of research it is. That caused to pursue more research on the interesting microbes that live in communities in us.”
As a postdoctoral scholar at UNC, Dr. Bleich was able to be a part of UNC- Chapel Hill’s Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education program (SPIRE), a training program that trained future teacher-scholars. Through this, she was able to do microbiome research at UNC while gaining teaching experience over a few semesters at UNC Pembroke. She stated,
This experience cemented my desire to teach and work someplace like App State.
Dr. Bleich has had quite a few mentors throughout her academic training, including Dr. Jason Clement, her undergraduate research advisor. She explained, “[Dr. Clement] got me started doing research and helped build my confidence to work independently and present my research. He also got me started on my first project that was related to bacteria.” When Dr. Bleich originally started at App State, her main research question involved studying how two bacteria linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) might work together to worsen disease outcomes within the gut. She furthered, “We are still studying this as one of our main questions, but we have gained a lot more data about it and have clearer hypotheses about how these bacteria interact. Our research keeps growing and building on each other, so what we learn now lays the foundation for what we will keep learning in the future.”
Dr. Bleich’s future research goals are to better understand how inflammation-linked microbes work together to influence heath and disease. She hopes to be able to use her research to train future microbiologists. She stated, “More and more we are realized how critical microbes are and all the intricate and complex ways that interact with us and each other. There is so much more work needing to be done to fully understand the complexity of the microbiome.”
Dr. Rachel Bleich is an invaluable addition to the Honors College team. Be sure to ask her about her research! You can find contact information and schedule an appointment with Dr. Bleich through here Honors College mentor page here, and she has an office located in Rankin Science West in room 263.
Top photo submitted.
