Dr. Todd Hastings has returned to his alma mater as an assistant professor in the department of undergraduate nursing,
Hastings has experience in several fields, describing himself as a “career jumper times two.” He graduated from Rutgers University with his undergraduate degree and pursued graduate school at Penn State where he was a nutrition and applied physiology student, which morphed into food science.
After working as a food technologist for several years with the federal service Uniformed Services Benefit Association (USBA), Hastings realized it no longer translated for him anymore.
Ten years after graduating college, he returned to school where he found that nursing did translate.
Hastings then pursued Wilkes as his graduate institution, where he grew into the profession and became centered in his specialty: mental health as a focus for health care.
“Wilkes provided me this opportunity to come back to school, get a graduate degree that focused on a clinical specialist area in psychiatric mental health nursing,” said Hastings.
From there, he tried several directions including hospital settings, management and outpatient therapist when, on a whim, he was recruited by Misericordia and had stuck with teaching since. Hastings has taught at several institutions including Bloomsburg and Cedar Crest.
Emphasizing his love for small private colleges as he is afforded more flexibility to embark in both scholarship and service, he found himself back at Wilkes, which he described as, “sort of like going back home.”
At Wilkes, he wanted to cultivate the same agenda he was working on at Cedar Crest relating to his interest in mental health and suicide prevention which, thus far, he has done on a multitude of levels.
Hastings is the adviser for the National Alliance on Mental Health club and affiliated club, Morgan’s Message.
He is also working on a cross campus based initiative, the Green Bandana Project, which is campus specific in nature but the message and intention around it is widespread.
The Green Bandana Project is a national campaign in which willing students opt to wear a green bandana to symbolize that they can provide information about where someone could go if they need help or support. In other words, students can present themselves as a safe space for mental health resources.
Hastings emphasized his gratitude for student interest in these subjects along with, particularly, the university’s willingness to move forward with the clubs, which he depicted as challenging at other institutions that had to be pushed to support and embrace these themes.
“It really shows there is heart at Wilkes,” said Hastings.