Academics
Mathematics Alumni in other careers using math
Tristan Hauser '03
I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. I was part of Peace Corps Ukraine, which was a great experience. I lived in the village of Zahattia on the western side of the Carpatian Mountains (near the Hungarian border). While I was there I was working in the village school as well as traveling into the far east of the country, which has some serious environmental concerns.
I feel that a math degree is a good idea since it has offered me inroads to work in education, the more quantitative sciences, and management/clerical applications. Also in many instances a resume showing an advanced degree in higher mathematics has expressed to potential employers that I have many desirable skills/attributes. This is due often to many people’s sense of math as a very difficult and demanding science, but also to the nice place mathematics enjoys in the context of a liberal arts education. While you do sometimes have to dig beneath the surface, mathematics can often expose and/or offer insight to many interesting topics and provides the best possible training in contemplating these and other issues in an organized and inventive manor, all while imparting a necessary and marketable life skill. As well, Plato argued that anyone hoping to truly appreciate literature, philosophy, and music would benefit by studying mathematics in order to acquire the needed skills, and in my experience, I have found that to be very good advice.
Lisa Wotkowicz '02
Currently I am employed as a Paralegal at a small law firm. I work on everything from real estate closings to research and brief writing for civil rights litigation. I am enrolled in the evening division of the New England School of Law and have just completed my first year of classes.
My mathematics education has helped me in an uncharacteristic way. Although I don't work with numbers or proofs, I have found that the methods for compiling and analyzing data that I learned at Saint Michael's have helped me every day at work and at school. I use these skills when reading and outlining cases for class and also when organizing and developing conclusions for writing legal briefs. I have found that knowing how to read and efficiently process large amounts of data, regardless of the subject matter, is an invaluable tool.
Adrienne Riel '00
I work with Greenleaf Forestry and Wood Products in Colorado and am subsequently pursuing graduate studies in forestry, more specifically in silviculture, the applied ecology and management of forests and woodlands. A background in mathematics has become valuable to this field, and I have been strongly encouraged by professors of forestry to apply to their graduate programs, even without the prior coursework in the natural sciences typically required. The data management and analysis skills I developed in math and computer science courses at Saint Michael's will be useful in this field as they have been in many other ways.
I completed the process of earning a Vermont teaching license through the Teacher Apprenticeship Program based in Essex Junction. Middle- and secondary-level math teachers are in high demand here and everywhere, and my education in higher math has enabled me to keep open the door of this possibility and be a strong candidate for positions. I have found this has only been accentuated by Saint Michael's reputation as an institution of rigorous academics and high ethics. In my student teaching at Middlebury Union Middle School, I assisted in coaching our MathCounts team to the state and national rounds of competition. My knowledge of high-level math and problem-solving strategies served me in working with these students as they tackled very challenging problems in all branches of mathematics.
Most important to me, though, are the understandings of mathematical truths and the reasoning skills I acquired and developed. They have universal applications and have impacted me personally as well as professionally. I'm very grateful for the quality of the education I received in the math department at Saint Michael’s.