CHAPARRAL

Deirdre Collins: 7/18 > 6/17, really?

Off she went!  Once, it was an institute in Illinois on learning disabilities, and the next time, it was a trip to Sacramento to attend the FACCC Strategic Planning Task Force meeting.  She must be one of those career teachers (25 years or more) who has made connections all over the place—one of the more experienced and "senior" faculty members at GCC!

     Not quite!  Deirdre Collins is a member of the Mathematics Division, teaching in her second year at GCC after six years of teaching at the community college and the high school levels.  Her leadership skills are apparent as the chairperson of the mathematics department at Victor Valley College and as a member of the FACCC Board of Governors.  In her capacity as chair, she was a fairly new member of the faculty involved in hiring, scheduling, curriculum, budgeting, and governance.  She was impressed with FACCC's efforts by both its faculty education programs and lobbying in the capitol on behalf of community colleges, and so she decided to get involved.  (Now I will insert a plug:  FACCC = Faculty Association of California Community Colleges.  See Deirdre for information.)

     Deirdre has an unquenchable yearning for answers when she comes across a question, and I don't mean math problem results!  The two-week institute mentioned above, sponsored by the National Institute for Learning Disabilities, studied different learning styles, a topic that interests her very much, and one that she addresses in the way she teaches.  

     Deirdre mixes various learning styles on different days of the week, keeping her students on their toes for both lectures and discussions with other classmates.  Last April, she completed a 16-unit program at UC Riverside to obtain her certificate in the Study of Multiple Intelligences.  I ran into the right person when I happened to mention to her that my algebra students take notes so compulsively.  She brought me a copy of Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy.  I appreciated the guidance!  Deirdre will be presenting her findings in a talk on developmental mathematic activities at the December California Mathematics Council for California Community Colleges Conference in Monterey.

     Deirdre goes far beyond normal efforts when she tries to help her students succeed.  She distributes maps to her office, sheets that must be signed that verify a visit to the Tutoring Center or to the Math Science Center to ask questions, and weekly time-management tips.  Last year, Deirdre was a member of the Writing Across the Curriculum Task Force, and this year she joined the Assessment Committee as the Guild representative.  She also enjoys helping with the AMATYC Math League competition every year.  (This author reports that a certain math division ratio now stands at 7 women of 18 full-timers, rather than 6 of 17. Data show that more women are studying math and the sciences than a generation ago.)

     Not only do education issues interest Deirdre, but also hiking in the canyon near her home, quilting, and Scottish country dancing.  She and her physicist husband bought a home in Glendale during the summer of 2001.  As Deirdre moves through the calculus sequence in order to teach all of our upper-level math, all I can say is. . .

     Off she goes again! &

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