“Suzanne, wherever you are, I hope you know that by affecting me positively...you had a profound influence on thousands of people,” said Lobo PhD graduate Giovanna Eisberg, a family studies major, as she wished to express her sincere thanks to former teaching assistant Suzanne Kryder.
Eisberg, who currently holds five degrees, considered ending her college career 30 years ago after receiving a D on an exam.
“(If) it wasn’t for her, I would never finish my college,” Eisberg said. “Her biggest impact was that...she understood that it was a breaking point for me...and gave me another opportunity.”
After that exam, Kryder noticed Eisberg was upset at the score and knew Eisberg studied pretty hard — she asked the student to visit her office to retake the exam.
Kryder was a TA at the time and received her PhD in Health Education in 1989. She is now a neuro leadership trainer/coach and the author of The Mind to Lead.
In the following years, Eisberg completed her bachelor’s degree and went on to pursue a master’s degree in health promotion and another master’s degree in family studies at UNM. She also received a different master’s degree in social work at New Mexico Highlands University before returning to UNM to finish her PhD.
Along with Kryder’s help, Eisberg also owed her success to her father and her professors.
When Eisberg was attending high school, her parents were divorced, leading her to often choose helping out around the house over socializing with her peers.
She eventually stopped attending traditional high school and earned her GED instead. Her father was the first person that encouraged her to pursue a college degree, which was amplified through his own experiences with education — as an Italian immigrant, he only completed school through the fourth grade.
“My father always valued education tremendously,” Eisberg said. “He knew how hard he worked as an immigrant. He just wanted me to give it a try.”
The attempt turned out to be a great success. The 2017 PhD graduate appreciated the help from the Lobo community, especially Dr. Ziarat Hossain, the chair of her dissertation committee, who helped her turn the negatives in her life into positives.
Her own experiences of being bullied in elementary and high school inspired Eisberg to focus on bullying in secondary school children in her dissertation, while the difficulties she suffered from her parents’ divorce led to her future plan to open up a therapy practice.
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“If we believe in people...give them a little bit of direction, it could be the difference between quitting and succeeding,” Eisberg said.
The Lobo football fan and soon-to-be alumni hopes to pursue teaching higher education, specifically at UNM.
“I am a very proud Lobo. I will always be a Lobo,” she said.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
