{"id":2193,"date":"2019-01-08T11:33:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=2193"},"modified":"2025-07-24T12:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T16:05:40","slug":"down-to-a-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/down-to-a-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Down to a Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

G<\/span>eorge Delahunty\u00a0likes to know how the world works\u2014specifically, the world of physiology and endocrinology, which, basically, is the whole world to Delahunty. The professor, who retired after the spring 2018 semester, simply loves how the systems of the body work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved science, I loved biology; it was a natural interest that I was very happy to build on through all my education and teaching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Delahunty grew up outside of Allentown, PA. He went to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh to study biology and then got his Ph.D. from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He is a career Gopher who started at the college in 1979, teaching biological sciences and retiring as the Lilian Welsh professor.<\/p>\n

He never stopped circulating, though. Through sabbatical leaves, Delahunty worked in the diabetes branch of the National Institutes of Health and as a visiting associate professor in the department of gerontology at Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n

He also co-founded Goucher\u2019s post-baccalaureate premedical program just a few years after coming to the college. At the time, there were very few post-bac programs to prepare students for medical school; Goucher\u2019s would be one of the first five. The faculty involved decided to model it after the program at Bryn Mawr. \u201cWe saw an opportunity to put together a program that would help our science enrollments and let us maintain the number of faculty we had,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Delahunty\u2019s goal was to run a quality program that could add to Goucher\u2019s reputation academically\u2014and he did, remaining the academic head of the program for many years. Over the past decade, he said, the program has had a virtual 100 percent medical school acceptance rate. Part of the reason for that is the faculty has intentionally kept the program small and selective. \u201cWe take 32 students a year, and there\u2019s no way we could handle more than that,\u201d said Delahunty.<\/p>\n

Expanding the program would tarnish its reputation, which could have significant repercussions. \u201cAnybody who has a science program [today] has a post-bac program,\u201d he said. \u201cThe competition for students is fierce, and once you lose that reputation, you\u2019re done.\u201d Even with the program\u2019s small size, Delahunty estimates that he\u2019s helped 800 to 900 students go on to medical school.<\/p>\n

More recently, Delahunty took the lead in creating the public health minor at Goucher. \u201cI saw an opportunity to generate student interest in public health, and there are lots of opportunities there for students,\u201d he said. With three other professors, he worked to get it passed by the faculty. Within a year or two, he said, it was the most popular minor at the college.<\/p>\n

His impact on the college is felt deeply by the community. At last year\u2019s Alumnae\/i Weekend, the Biology Program put on a special presentation for him in Kelley Lecture Hall. It was packed with students from every decade and science program. \u201cIt was very moving,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a very nice way to end my final year of teaching. The importance of having good people to work with really makes a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those wondering at the amount of change at Goucher recently, in the academic programs and the administration, Delahunty offers reassurance: \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of things in my 39 years at this institution. This too shall pass.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Delahunty likes to know how the world works\u2014specifically, the world of physiology and endocrinology, which, basically, is the whole world to Delahunty. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":2469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7935],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[87484],"class_list":["post-2193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goucher-today"],"yoast_head":"\nDown to a Science | Goucher Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"George Delahunty likes to know how the world works; specifically, physiology and endocrinology, which, basically, is the whole world to Delahunty.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/down-to-a-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down to a Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"George Delahunty likes to know how the world works\u2014specifically, the world of physiology and endocrinology, which, basically, is the whole world to Delahunty.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/down-to-a-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Goucher Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-08T16:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-24T16:05:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2019\/01\/GD.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Molly Englund\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly Englund\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Molly Englund\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/43155b9e9455876089c51a5a895ca8ca\"},\"headline\":\"Down to a Science\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-08T16:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-24T16:05:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":558,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/GD.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Goucher Today\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/\",\"name\":\"Down to a Science | Goucher Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/down-to-a-science\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/GD.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-08T16:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-24T16:05:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"George Delahunty likes to know how the world works; 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