Service to Department

Over the years, my contributions to the Mathematics department have encompassed committee service and representation of the department at institutional activities. Through this work, I have sought to foster collaboration, expand opportunities for our students, and advance Xavier's mission within the department. 

• ORSP Open House (every Fall 2024-present)

• Faculty mentor for Center of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity (CURGO) (2022-present)

• XULA Math Olympiad (every Spring 2022-present)

• Department Curriculum Committee (2022-present)

• XULA Lagniappe Fair (every Spring 2022-present)

• Faculty mentor for OSU-HBCU Mathematical Biology Colloquium program (2022-2024)

• Gardner Institute Steering Committee (2022-2023)

• Faculty Search Committee (2022-2023)

• Faculty advisor (2021-present)

  • Zalikha Holloman (2021-2023)

  • Julian Davis (2022-2026)

  • Austin Teter (2022-2025)

  • Jan Markan (2026-present)

Department Committees

In 2022-2023, I served on a Faculty Search Committee, where the department was seeking to hire a tenure-track faculty member. Although unforeseen circumstances prevented the department from finding a new hire in Spring 2023, I continued to support the department's recruitment efforts during subsequent academic years. I reviewed applicants from across the country and evaluated their qualifications in teaching, research, and potential contribution to Xavier's mission. 

Since 2022, I have been serving on the department's Curriculum Committee. On this committee, we review proposals related to the department's course offerings and course curriculum changes. 

One significant proposal that I have initiated to the committee has been the development of a new math course sequence: College Algebra and Trigonometry, designed to strengthen students' preparation for higher-level coursework. This proposal has been approved by the department and is currently in review by the University's Academic Council. Currently, our department offers MATH 1030/1030I, a 4-credit Precalculus course that serves to fulfill the Quantitative core requirement and is a prerequisite to higher-level science courses offered by other departments. The proposed sequence would provide students with a more structured pathway through the Precalculus material, consisting of a 3-credit College Algebra course followed by a 2-credit Trigonometry course over two semesters. By distributing the content across two semesters, the sequence creates greater opportunities for students to engage with challenging concepts, strengthen their mathematical reasoning, and develop a deeper understanding of the material. 

Department Representative

From 2022-2024, I served as a faculty mentor for the OSU-HBCU Mathematical Biology Colloquium Program, a collaborative initiative connecting faculty and students at HBCUs with the mathematical biology community at Ohio State University. I was invited to participate by Dr. Janet Best of the OSU Mathematics department, and my background in Mathematical Biology positioned me to serve as a faculty representative and mentor of their program. Over the course of two academic years, the program helped serve the university's mission by providing Xavier students with exposure to the mathematical biology community, an opportunity to hear researchers speak on their work, and guidance on pursuing graduate education. In my role as faculty mentor, I helped students engage with these opportunities and encouraged them to consider pathways into mathematical biology and related fields. A particularly impactful component of the program was a week-long workshop hosted at OSU, where HBCU students were invited to work alongside OSU graduate students on mathematical biology research projects. This immersive experience provided my students the opportunity to engage directly with research, develop a clearer understanding of graduate-level study, and envision themselves as participants in the broader mathematics community. Through my involvement, I contributed to strengthening students' research awareness, professional development, and preparation for potential graduate study while fostering collaboration between XULA and OSU. I collaborated with other HBCU faculty and published a paper on our experience (Ma, T., Fernando, A., & Gurski, K. (2024). "A Research Introduction for Early College Students: Based on the OSU-HBCU Pilot Project." PRIMUS, 34(9), 969-987, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511970.2024.2396497). One of my students who participated in the program, Haylee Rippy, is continuing her education and is currently at the University of Louisiana--Lafayette in their PhD program.

Since 2022, I have represented the department at various university functions and initiatives such as the Lagniappe Fair and XULA Open House. At these events, families of prospective students are invited to campus to learn about the departments, various programs, and resources for student success at Xavier. I assisted in these initiatives by updating our department brochure, creating demos to advertise the wonders of mathematics, and address questions that families have about Xavier's placement exams and core curriculum requirements.