Starting down the path to a career in healthcare or life sciences can certainly be daunting. A brief scan of the list of required classes for programs like pre-nursing or pre-pharmacy is enough to make many people break out in a cold sweat. For Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) Human Anatomy and Physiology instructor Dr. Mukti Ryan though, teaching students how to learn and be successful is equally important to teaching course concepts.
“I like to spend a lot of time in class talking about study strategies themselves,” says Ryan. “It's one thing to have all the material, but learning how to study that material can be that make it or break it element.”
One reason Ryan places such a strong emphasis on teaching students how to study and learn in her notoriously challenging disciplines is that her academic expertise is in both the subject matter of microbiology, chemistry, anatomy, and physiology and in the art and science of teaching itself.
In February 2026, Ryan completed her PhD in Math and Science Education at the WSU College of Education, which she worked on over the previous six years. According to Ryan, a dedication to teaching is a common theme of community college instructors to the extent that students often choose community colleges—particularly for challenging programs—because of it.
“It’s good that there are good stereotypes about community colleges,” said Ryan. “Students expect the small class sizes and what goes along with that is expecting to have instructors who love teaching and are more interested in doing that than the research component. We have faculty here that do research, but teaching is at the forefront, and our students are at the forefront.”
Ryan teaches Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Microbiology, and Nutrition for Healthcare—courses that often sit at critical junctures in students’ academic paths. “One of the first classes students take after general biology is Human A&P I,” she explained. While A&P II isn’t required immediately, she strongly encourages students to take the sequence back-to-back. “I recommend it so what they’re learning stays fresh,” she said, noting that many students are taking anatomy alongside demanding courses like chemistry. “That can be an overwhelming experience, and I’m very aware of that.”
Like many people who go to college, Dr. Ryan has faced hurdles and unexpected twists in her education and career that can only be made sense of in retrospect. After completing her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology, zoology, and chemistry at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, and earning a postgraduate diploma in analytical chemistry, she came to the Inland Northwest to continue her graduate studies.
“I applied to a lot of places in the US, and there were a lot of convoluted rules about immigration and how everything worked out,” said Ryan. “It took me about two years from the time that I decided that I wanted to pursue a graduate degree to the time that I came to the US. It took me two years of applying—everything from rejections to acceptances—and then getting all the finances lined up.”
After completing her master’s degree in biology at Eastern Washington University, she joined Spokane Colleges as an adjunct professor in 2010 and soon started thinking about doctoral studies. “But, life happens,” she said.
After arriving in the U.S., Ryan was diagnosed with a condition that required major surgery and a long recovery.
“I went from diagnosis to the operating room at Harborview Medical Center within a couple of weeks,” she said. “Recovery from that surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” The experience ultimately led her to step away from the MD track. “I physically could not get through a residency program,” she said. “It was time for Plan B—and that’s okay.” Ryan now shares that perspective with students. “You can find peace, joy, and happiness in Plan B. There can be value in setbacks.”
“Then I found this great PhD program at WSU,” said Ryan. “Once I got into it, it was like a whole new world opened up. I knew I loved teaching, and I loved my student facing role. And I thought, you know, let's do some research into how to make classes better and more accessible and more exciting and less overwhelming.”
While her PhD in Math and Science Education makes her fully qualified to hold a professorship at a four year university, Ryan has no plans to leave SFCC.
“I've worked at Gonzaga before, I've worked at Whitworth before, and there's just something about the smaller setting at the community college,” said Ryan. “You get to sit down with the students. You get to know the students. You get to follow their journey, basically from when they come here to when they graduate from their programs.”
Dr. Ryan’s role includes advising individual students as they begin many diverse tracks leading to roles ranging from Physical Therapy Assistant to surgical technologist to dentist.
“When I get a new advisee, I try to get to know them. Usually our middle ground is that we’re all doing school alongside everything else that’s happening in our lives,” said Ryan. “That’s our starting point — getting to know each other and guiding my advisees that way.”
Dr. Ryan’s approach to assignments and grading recognize the difficulty of studying human anatomy, physiology, and microbiology, particularly when they’re in a course load alongside classes like chemistry.
“Anatomy and physiology can be a terrifying experience for a lot of students, so I include a lot of low-stakes work,” said Ryan. “I don’t want students to feel like one bad test is going to completely set them off course.”
Likewise, her design of lessons uses teaching tools and strategies supported by research—including her own research—to ensure every student can engage with the material in a way that works best for them.
“I try to incorporate kinesthetic learning—drawing out the bones, putting labels on my own arm, taking them off and sticking them back on,” said Ryan. “I use digital tools that are semi-gamified, and 3D anatomy, because different students learn in different ways.”
One of the most distinctive features of anatomy education at SFCC is its cadaver lab, which Ryan sees as irreplaceable. “It’s one thing to look at a colorful picture in a textbook,” she said. “But when you see the real thing, you appreciate it on a completely different level.” Students engage not just visually, but physically and emotionally. “Everything from the smell to the texture—it’s a very deep experience,” Ryan said. “Most students approach it with awe and fascination.” She views this process as essential preparation for healthcare careers, where comfort with the realities of the human body is critical.
Ryan’s connection to Spokane Falls Community College is both long-standing and deeply personal. She has lived in the Spokane area for nearly two decades, and married and started a family here. “It’s been my home,” she said. “Next year it’ll be 15 years since I started at Spokane Colleges.”
Learn more about all the healthcare and life sciences careers you can start at Spokane Colleges.