Professor of Mathematics Offers Advice for Students Fearing Math

Staff Writer

   Her mathematics students are familiar with her phrase, and they see the light in her eyes when she says it: “It feels like magic. Everything clicks together, everything works. It's just beautiful.”

   Lynn Fox, professor of Mathematics at University of Arkansas at Monticello, smiled broadly as she explained, “I love math, and I try to make students understand that math is an exciting thing, you just have to be open to the possibilities.” 

   “Very energetic; she simply will not give in to 'I can't do this,'” Morris Bramlett said, Dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. “She has the ability to make everybody in her class better.”

   Fox graduated Magna Cum Laude from UAM, completing a bachelor's degree in math and a master's degree in teaching, with 18 additional hours of math coursework completed at other universities. She taught high school math at Hamburg High School for the 1998-99 school year, then moved to Rison School District where she taught for 10 years.

   One year, 92 percent of her Geometry students scored in the proficient to advanced range on the end-of-course exam, and she had a 100 percent pass-rate in her advanced placement Calculus class.

   She received the Arkansas Governer's Educator Award twice, as well as two nominations for the President's Award for Excellence in Mathematics Education.

  In January of this year, she came full circle, returning to UAM to work as assistant director for the Educational Renewal Zone (ERZ) program, designed to help school districts better prepare their students for college. Then, a position opened up in the Mathematics department, and Bramlett chose her over more than 30 other applicants.

   For students with fears and difficulties in math, she offered this advice: “Life is full of scary things, and sometimes you have to confront those scary things and get past them to reach your goals.” Students who work hard and are willing to put forth the effort tend to do better, she said. “I tell my students that if you're willing to work, I'm willing to work with you, and I'll do what I can to get you through it. Bug me.”

   “She'll help students daylight to dark out of class if necessary,” Bramlett said. “She'll do whatever it takes to be successful.”  To a student who expressed concern over interrupting her lunchtime for an appointment, she asked, “Lunch? Who needs it?”

   Some of her former students from Rison who came to UAM even rearranged their schedules to take their math classes from her.

   A self-proclaimed geek and lover of anime, manga and science-fiction, she acknowledged that she's a bit unconventional. She fell in love with sci-fi after seeing “Return of the Jedi,” “because the good guys win, and I like that,” she said.

   Also atypical, she said, is that she doesn't appreciate high fashion or high society, and prefers a simpler lifestyle.

   “Kind of a plebeian way of life, so to speak, but I'm OK with it,”  Fox said.

   She said she has a very optimistic view of the world.“I guess you could say I'm an optimistic and reluctant realist.”  She said the problems of the world are solvable, we just have to keep looking for the solutions.

   “I understand there are situations that are very, very horrible,” she said, and that people often take a pessimistic view of the world.

   “Several of my more educated friends seem to play on the fact that the world sucks,” she said. “And my view is, well yes, maybe it does, but that doesn't mean we can't fix it.”

   She said she has sympathy for students who are trying to reacquire new skills when making a return to school, as she is working toward a doctorate in applied science. Although she is furthering her own education, she said she doesn't see UAM as a stepping stone to a bigger career elsewhere, but that she's quite happy where she is.

   “There's just something about the Science Center,” she said. “I know some people do not like the building, but when I walk into the Science Center, I like it. It's got issues, I won't say it doesn't have issues, but it feels like home.”

Editor's note: The writer of the article left out the word "more" in the following quote: "Several of my educated friends seem to play on the fact that the world sucks." The article now shows the correction.

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