Q: How do you like teaching mostly first-year students?
A: It's like Groundhog Day every year. I get the same questions and I spend the whole year answering them. Then August rolls around and I do it all over again.
Q: Who was your favorite teacher?
A: My favorite teacher was my high school math instructor in 1977. He was the only math teacher that didn't keep pointing out that I was a girl. My other math teachers would always say to the boys in the class, "Look guys, the only girl in the class is doing better than you." Having a girl in a math class isn't so unusual now.
Q: What is the best piece of advice you give your students?
A: The advice I always give to first years is that everything is going to be okay. You don't have to get straight As; you can get a C and everything will still be fine. The world is run by C students. I tell them to relax, that they don't have to be perfect anymore. They've already done so much to get into the University, and yet they're still running on that treadmill like they have to be the top of everything they do.
Q: How do you spend your free time?
A: My free time is spent taking care of animals. I have horses, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs. I live 30 miles away in Afton, and I work six days a week, so free time is limited.
Q: How did you decide to teach math?
A: Actually, I never did decide to teach math. The first job I was offered was teaching math at Exeter Academy for two years, and while I was there I got offered my next job back at my alma mater, Smith College, because they already knew me. When I moved to Virginia I was offered a job teaching here. I guess I haven't decided yet what I want to do; math was something I fell in to, but I love math.
Q: What is it about math that terrifies people?
A: Math seems to be used as the overall IQ test for people; if someone's good at math, then they're smart. And that's totally untrue. People get nervous like math is reflecting their overall intelligence, but math is not something you know automatically. Learning math is like an athletic endeavor: you have to practice all the time. People seem to think you're either good at it or not, but it doesn't work that way. Even my SAT scores in math were low. I went to a vocational school, not a college prep school, and I was the only person even taking the SATs.
Q: If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
A: Well, I've already had dinner with [DNA scientist] James Watson, and I didn't know who he was. I taught his son at Exeter. If I could have dinner with anyone, I would want to have dinner with someone in the future -- my 10-year-old daughter's future husband. I would want to tell him how to treat her and make sure he was always true to her in everything he does. I'd tell him that she should never have to worry about where he's going or what his intentions are.
Q: Do you have any unusual interests?
A: I have obsession with bull riding -- I'm a bull riding freak. I love the rodeo. I grew up riding horses and I've always thought cowboys were cool.Part of the reason I like to watch the rodeo is that it's one of the few times when humans and animals interact and the human always loses. The animal never gets hurt. I would never try it myself, though. I'm chicken -- it's so scary to me. I've been on a bucking horse once, and that was enough for me.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: If I had to take a book with me to a deserted island, I would take a calculus book. I could spend ages solving those problems. But I'd want to take one I haven't taught from so I didn't already know the answers.
Q: If you could teach one other subject what would it be?
A: I would teach non-runners how to run. I run all the time, that's another one of my hobbies. New runners need to learn about the conservation of energy. I'd tell them not to waste energy by flapping like a bird when they run. I'm not very good at running, I just do it all the time. I started right after I had a baby and was sick of being fat. I started running, and instead of losing weight I gained five pounds because I thought I could eat everything I wanted.
Q: What other profession would interest you?
A: If I could be anything, I'd be a barrel racer in the rodeo -- one of those hot chicks in shorts. But I'm a math teacher, so I guess that's it.
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