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Rhoda
Jost
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Down to a Science
Rhoda Jost
Professor of Medical Laboratory Technology, North Campus
“My goal is to empower students to do what they want to do,” says Professor Rhoda Jost, leader of the medical laboratory technology and histologic technology programs at Florida Community College.
Jost was raised on a North Dakota cattle ranch on the edge of the badlands. A graduate of Jamestown College in her home state, she was a medical technologist in a Pueblo, Colorado hospital for two years before her move to the sunshine state for health reasons. She had developed severe allergies to sagebrush; her doctors advised a significant climate change and to live as close to the ocean as possible.
Jost earned her Master’s degree in Allied Health from the University of North Florida. Both of her parents were teachers, and her earliest ambition was to follow in their footsteps. While working as a medical technologist at Memorial Medical Center in 1978, she started training medical assistants part-time at Jones College. Two years later, she was in charge of its medical campus.
Her career with Florida Community College began in 1986 as instructor of medical microbiology, and throughout, she has continued to assist in developing and expanding programs. The College’s histologic technology (HT) was the first of its kind to be offered online in Florida; it’s now accessible to distance students throughout the U.S. She was also instrumental in bringing medical laboratory technology courses to distance students through a blended (online and lab/classroom) format, boosting enrollment in the program significantly. Jost won the Marcus Drewa Endowed Chair for Continuing Education Leadership in Health Care for 2003-04.
Student successes abound. “One of my students was a displaced homemaker with three kids. She had enormous struggles to get through school. She is now a medical technologist making over $40,000 a year. That’s what I want to achieve here.”
“Each student needs to feel that the professor cares about their success in the class. I want students to feel that we are in a partnership to help them do well.” Professor Jost has student success down to a science.
