Alumni - Northern Kentucky University
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Shelley has been an instructor of mathematics at Northern Kentucky University since August, 1999. Her instruction is centered around several entry level college math courses. While working toward her degree, Shelley held positions in both accounting and financial credit services areas in the Cincinnati area, including her work as a corporate bookkeeper for a local Fortune 500 company. She also worked as a math tutor in the Math Lab at Northern Kentucky University. During her graduate work, Shelley was a teaching assistant, instructing both in recitation sessions in mathematics courses taught by other instructors and in several courses as the primary instructor.
In her current position, Shelley has taught a variety of courses. These include Mathematics for Liberal Arts, Business Mathematics, College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus I and Introduction to Computer Concepts and Applications. Apart from her regular duties as an instructor, she has had several opportunities for involvement in special projects. Along with two other colleagues, Shelley received a CINSAM grant for funding of the Saturday program, called Math Excursions, targeting women and minority high school students in the tri-state area. This program was designed to encourage interest in the field of mathematics among women and minorities of high school age, to emphasize the benefits of group work in this field, and culminated in a trip to Penn State for the high school students to participate in the annual ARML competition in mathematics. She has worked as both a primary instructor and facilitator for courses under the Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) program Northern Kentucky University has implemented, based on the Ferris State University model. Shelley has served as the Course Coordinator for the College Algebra course at Northern Kentucky University for two years prior, and this year as Co-Coordinator for the course. She has been involved in other academic activities including chairing a test book search committee for the College Algebra course and work as a contributing author for the lab manual currently used in the Introduction to Computer Applications and Concepts course.
Shelley attended several universities along her journey. She began at Cumberland College as a math major in 1987. She later transferred to Raymond Walters College, earning an Associate of Arts, Pre-Business in 1994. After transferring to Northern Kentucky University, she sought and achieved a Bachelor of Science, Mathematics in 1997, and was accepted at the University of Kentucky for graduate school. She received her Master of Arts, Mathematics in June, 1999. In her position at Northern Kentucky University, Shelley must use many of the obvious math skills she has acquired during her educational experience, including algebra, basic calculus, and business mathematics. However, she uses many other math topics studied‹such as linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and theoretical studies‹to aid in her design of course materials so as to provide her students with a clear framework for what they are doing within the context of what is to come in future math courses. Shelley feels that to be an effective instructor, one must not only have a strong knowledge base of the subject matter, but also develop strong organization, communication and social management skills. She also indicates that her work experience prior to academics work gave her insight into both the workings of industry and the working-student responsibility load, and enables her to enhance the math content taught with real life, contemporary examples and applications.
Shelley’s advice for high school or college students considering how much mathematics to take is not to take only the minimum math requirements for your program. She suggests that as a math major, you will likely have many employment opportunities outside of the direct field of mathematics, since many employers equate a degree in mathematics with a certain level of knowledge, logic skills and trainability. As a second major, or even a minor it can make one much more versatile and therefore marketable. She contends that using math courses to meet some of your elective hours is a wise investment of your college dollar. She says, “Many times along our career path, even the most elementary exposure to a particular topic can give us a pivotal edge over our peers.”
