WCU Professor Named Mathematics Teacher of the Year
Hattiesburg, Miss., October 23, 2013 - Dr. Charlotte McShea, professor of mathematics and chair, department of mathematics at William Carey University, has been named College Mathematics Teacher of the Year by the Mississippi Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM). The purpose of MCTM is to encourage an active interest in mathematics, to afford a medium of interchange of views regarding the teaching of mathematics, and to further the cooperative study of problems relating to the teaching of mathematics at all five levels of instruction. Mathematics students and mathematics instructors elementary through college level are members of the organization.
Dr. McShea received her B.S. from Mississippi College before going on to get her master's at The University of Southern Mississippi and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2012, she was chosen as an honoree of the 2012 Higher Education Appreciation Day - Working for Academic Excellence (HEADWAE) program. HEADWAE was established by the Mississippi Legislature to recognize outstanding students and faculty in Mississippi's colleges and universities. Dr. McShea recently served as a presenter at the MCTM Annual Conference held at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, which is where the Teacher of the Year award was presented.
During the presentation of this award, the presenter mentioned quotes from recommendation letters written by Dr. McShea's students. "Dr. McShea has been and still is a mentor to many former students who have become math teachers," the letter said, and "Dr. McShea exemplifies the quote 'They won't care how much you know until they know how much you care and her students know that she cares.'"