Raylene's Introduction

Hi everyone! I am Raylene Potter and I am a first-year doctoral student in USF’s Learning and Instruction Program. Currently, I hold Mathematics Faculty positions at Gavilan College in Gilroy, Hartnell College in Salinas, and Chapman University in Monterey. This semester, I will be teaching Finite Mathematics, Elementary Statistics, Intermediate Algebra and Elementary Algebra.

Professional Life

After earning my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont, I taught high school for a year, and then returned to the University for a Master’s in Statistics. During my Master’s program, I worked for the University’s Medical College Biometry Department, doing computer programming and statistical analysis for a longitudinal study of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. I quickly discovered that I loved statistics but was not passionate about the field of medical epidemiology!

Beginning 1986, I worked in the Statistical Analysis Department at CTB/McGraw-Hill in Monterey as a Scientific Programmer/Analyst, a hybrid job combining Statistics, Computer Programming, Math, and Educational Research – an ideal job which combined my four academic passions under one umbrella. The only missing piece was a way to satisfy my ongoing need for a “teaching fix”, so I started to pick up adjunct faculty positions teaching math and stats. I began working as an adjunct at Chapman University in 1986 and at Hartnell College in 1995.

By June of 2007, I was going crazy working three jobs, and after much soul-searching, gave up the “day job” at CTB/McGraw-Hill and grew the adjunct commitments into full-time employment. This semester I will be teaching 21 semester units split between three campuses.

Why a Doctorate

My original intention upon earning my master’s degree was to work for two years and then pursue a doctorate in Statistics. With marriage and family commitments, the two-year timeframe stretched to twenty-two years, and my passion for teaching superseded my fascination with all things statistical.

I became aware of the doctoral program at USF twenty years ago when I did statistical consulting for a SOE student completing her dissertation. For many years, the USF SOE brochure was pinned to my bulletin board, reminding me of my intention to apply when my kids were “old enough”.

My purpose in pursuing a doctorate is to strengthen my classroom teaching skills, strengthen my research skills, and to pursue development of college-level mathematics curriculum modules incorporating imagination and creativity as an essential component of mathematics acquisition. My dream is to work in a university teaching/research position.

Potential Project Topics

My interest in imagination and creativity in mathematics acquisition stems from my work in the statistical analysis group at McGraw-Hill. I was blessed to be able to work alongside brilliant psychometricians, mathematicians, statisticians and computer programmers. One of my ongoing observations was that these subject-matter experts are extremely creative in their crafts. Another observation was that most of these PhD-level professionals shared similar backgrounds of not doing particularly well in math in school, especially at the high school and undergraduate level. This implies a strong disconnect from the way math is traditionally taught versus how math is actually acquired and utilized in professional environments. I would like to try to figure out how to bridge this gap.