Alumni Focus: Eileen Fernandez '84

This is the tenth in a series of Alumni Focus features where we hear from alumni of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department and find out what they have been doing since graduation. This note is from Eileen Fernandez '84, who was a major in Mathematics. Eileen later earned her Ph. D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Chicago and received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in June 2003 in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Montclair State University

Eileen writes... When I was asked to write three or four paragraphs about my life since William Smith, I remember thinking that three or four sentences would suffice! I graduated from William Smith. I went to graduate school. I became a professor. QED But I guess I can fill in spaces with the driving force behind my decisions: my love of teaching. That was, after all, what drew me to William Smith in 1980. Not only did college expose me to some of the best math teachers I would ever have, I was also given opportunities to teach other students during labs and office hours. The struggle of determining what it was about a mathematical idea that was confusing to a student, and enabling that student to resolve it for herself, was one that I identified with (since I too struggled with my own study of mathematics). The chance to spend the rest of my life on the giving end of that interaction took me to graduate school. I received a Master's degree in Mathematics from New York University in 1987. I went to Rutgers where I was thinking of continuing my studies in mathematics, but was conflicted over whether to pursue mathematics or mathematics education. The latter won out, and I received a Ph. D. in mathematics education from the University of Chicago in 1998 (and in my dissertation, I developed and applied a framework for ÒgoodÓ mathematics teaching!). Since then, I have been a professor in the math department at Montclair State University where I teach mathematics to undergraduate students and mathematics education to prospective and practicing teachers. Sure, I can fill in even more spaces with experiences like comprehensive exams (failed and passed!), more graduations, tenure, rock climbing (and falling!), hiking, cross-country skiing, getting married and adopting our first son. But I find myself looking for, and being sustained by, the learning and teaching opportunities in everything I do. Just two years ago, we took our (then 3-year old) son to a ski lesson in Vermont where the overwhelming nature of the setting, well, overwhelmed him. The next day, I took him to the gentler cross-country trails, putting one ski on one foot and having him push off with the other. Two skis followed soon after, and this March he was down-hill skiing a 3-mile trail on Canada's Mont Tremblant. In this way (as in so many others), I continue to experience the joy in knowing that I can play a small part in helping someone fulfill something they thought they couldn't, but always could. Look at that, I made it to five paragraphs! If anyone ever wants to talk about graduate school in mathematics or mathematics education, academia, or teaching, they should feel free to email me at fernandezeATmail.montclair.edu. ---From Eileen Fernandez, Junez, June 14, 2006 My husband Stewart, son Matthew, and me on the summit of Mount Mansfield in Stowe, Vermont (October 2005). . . it's a hike we do every year.