Mathematics major and Honors student Olivia Long wondered about the profession of mathematics professor at a small college like Roanoke. She asked us several questions about the present and the future of our job. Here are the edited results, so that you can get to know us and our job.
Chris Lee is co-founder with his wife of the Deaf Dogs Rock organization. They provide information about deaf dogs and have established a large network for placing deaf dogs with good owners. From time to time, one of his dogs will come in and charm students.
His research focuses on Mastery-based testing. This is the process of breaking a course up into topics and allowing students to test on the topics multiple times so that they can learn all of the information. He uses this tactic in all of his classes and collects data on students’ reactions to the process. He also works with Mathematica to create demos for his classes to visualize multi-dimensional material.
He has grown as a professor as he has learned that most of his work is done during the summers. This is because teaching is the priority and there are more responsibilities during the school year. He believes that if schools like Roanoke College are around in 2050 then they will maintain the importance of human contact and application of knowledge. His favorite phrase is “For results to change, behavior has to change.” This is useful to his students especially as they use Mastery attempts. His favorite television show is Survivor.
