Early Life 

Dr. Amiel Jarstfer’s parents were both born and raised on the West side of Lansing Michigan. One side of his parents was a typical farming family, and the other was a factory working family. His Aunt and Uncle still live in Michigan but, his parents moved all over. 

Jarstfer was born in 15 miles from the Georgia/Florida boarder in Thomasville Georgia. His family lived there while his father was working at a training center for his company, Massey Ferguson. 

The place he feels the most connection with is Michigan, the place he calls home.  

Life Before AU 

Before AU, Jarstfer did research at a lab when he worked at The University of Florida. During his time there he helped invent several patents by using problem solving. 

The first patent that he was a part of creating was one based on the idea of helping a plant that was native to Florida. The plant, sea oats, were having problems with their roots staying in the ground. 

Jarstfer helped come up with the idea to use a food processer to slice the fungus into small pieces so it can help the sea oats roots. The fungus on the sea oats roots then made it easier for the roots to be able to latch on better to the ground. This idea made it possible for sea oats to continue to thrive in Florida. 

Another patent he helped work on was one he partnered with of his students for. His student found out that, one day, when he was outside, a mosquito bit a wart on his finger and the wart went away. 

“We did some background research and figured out that, hey, we need to try this,” said Jarstfer. This experiment cleared the air for Jarstfer and made his research more understandable. 

During this research, it was found that there is a certain peptide that can be found in certain mosquitoes’ saliva that has anti-tumor activity.  

The part he misses the most about being a researcher is discovery of knowledge.  

“It is an outlet for creativity and problem solving” Jarstfer said. 

Jarstfer was not just a researcher, he was a teacher in a college classroom for about 20 years. During his time teaching, he spent it with first to third graders up through teaching techniques to post-doctoral researchers.  

He loves teaching and misses it greatly. He describes it as being a very special time in his life.  

“That is a very filling kind of thing to do as a human is to invest in another person” Jarstfer said. 

His job at AU 

Jarstfer is the provost for the University and has held the position for six years.  

His job encompasses serving as the chief academic advisor with other responsibilities. Here at AU that includes registrar office, student success unit, the library, study abroad, institutional predication, and institutional assessment. 

His assistant, Dean Katherine Willaims, helps with the student success unit. These responsibilities listed are all completed by Jarstfer and his team. 

The other aspect of the provost is that Jarstfer is second to the president. If the president is unable to be at an event, the provost will act and will speak for the president and for the university.  

Hobbies 

In his time, when he is not working, Jarstfer, spends his time doing woodworking and winemaking.  

He likes to make things that are useful. Currently, he is working on making a stepstool out of heart-yellow pine from Florida that came from old church pews. The wood came from a church that Jarstfer and his wife attended, when the church built a new place and left the pews behind.   

For 41 years, Jarstfer has been spending his free time in his vineyard.  In Ashland, he said he is lucky enough to have a property where he can have a micro vineyard. He has 22 vines and this year his vines have produced 150 pounds of grapes to produce white wines. 

Jarstfer was a microbiologist, and he used his specific area of training, plant pathology, to help with the disease of grapes that affects his vines. He takes the wine he makes and uses it as gifts for others. He does not want to get into the business of winemaking, but he wants this to stick to just being a hobby.  

“And now that I have a micro vineyard, I can claim to be a wine grower not just a wine maker. Because good wine is made in the vineyard” said Jarstfer. 

Why AU 

This ideology that AU professors challenge students is something that Jarstfer thinks is very important. He believes this strengthens all students who are enrolled. He has worked in higher education for many years and has seen others push students into what they should teach.  

Jarstfer also likes how AU understands what a general education is. That students are encouraged to think about things they would normally not think about. AU makes a point to help students figure out what they believe and then be able to answer this is why they believe this.  

“I was driving out of Columbus, and they had a billboard out there in a corn field and it said, ‘Teaching students how to think not what to think – Ashland University’ And I thought. wow I think I am heading to the right place,” Jarstfer said. 

This is the mindset he leads with in his next steps as the provost.