LaMsMATYC

PRESIDENT WELCOME

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Gloria Parrino

2025-2026 LaMsMATYC President

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Welcome to the Louisiana and Mississippi chapter of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (LaMsMATYC).  My name is Gloria Parrino, Instructor of Mathematics at Louisiana State University - Eunice.  I am serving my 2nd term as LaMsMATYC President (March 2025-March 2026).  My 1st term was from September 2009 – September 2010, as Gloria Hernandez.  From 2000-2011, I presented annually and held several offices in LaMsMATYC -including being part of the infamous AMATYC host committee in 2007 –AMATYC New Orleans in Minneapolis Annual Conference (moved to Minneapolis due to Hurricane Katrina damage), and hosted the LaMsMATYC conference in October 2011.   Life happened… and now I am excited to be back in LaMsMATYC since September 2019.

I’m just wrapping up my 25th year at LSU Eunice.  I started to discover an interest in teaching as a tutor and student assistant while an undergrad and decided it was a passion while I was in graduate school - I found myself more interested in the classes that I was teaching as a GA and spending more time on them, than the classes that I was taking.  Other than 1 semester as an adjunct teaching developmental mathematics and computer literacy at Northwestern State University and a year substituting at a middle school while I was pregnant, I have spent my entire career at LSUE. 

At LSUE, I have taught a wide range of classes, including developmental, applied algebra, college algebra, number sense and geometry for elementary education majors, introduction to contemporary mathematics, and at the beginning of my career, university studies, honors seminar, and business calculus.  I have taught week-long math Praxis prep workshops.  I received a grant to create a classroom “dedicated” to the elementary education math courses with storage for manipulatives, new seating, laptops, and additional manipulatives.  I have been involved in course development in creating an algebra for elementary education majors and partnering with others in developing introduction to contemporary mathematics and most recently combining the number sense and geometry for elementary education majors courses into one course.  I was part of the 1st cohort of teachers developing online classes at LSUE in Fall 2008 and have gone through numerous trainings and updates since then, including Quality Matters and LSU Online courses. I continue to teach a mixture of face-to-face and online classes.  For a few years, I also taught modular classes.  I have been very active in campus events and committees, including serving as secretary or chair on numerous occasions.

Besides my classroom experience, my athletic experiences also lead me to feel like my role as a teacher is similar to that as a coach – to guide them in what to do, giving them “tricks” (plays) to approach certain problems (opponents), and encouraging them and being there to help when they are struggling.  I regularly tell my students that math is a skill, just like a sport.  I could watch a video about how to play basketball, but unless I practice with the ball in my hand by myself, I won’t do well in the game – and the practice has to be close to game time. The person in the video makes it look easy because they’ve done it many times before actually putting it on video.  I give them the example that I was about 7 or 8 out of 10 free throw shooter in high school but would be happy if I hit the rim now because I haven’t practiced in so long.  I remind them that they need to be involved in their own learning process.

I want to see students to develop a growth mindset and try to encourage them to recognize “Progress, not Perfection” and that even though both 35% and 57% are both failing grades, that they should be proud of the improvement and to continue the hard work improving and they will eventually get there, just don’t give up on themselves! 

Way too many students at the community college level come to us with many outside struggles and/or are unprepared for higher education.  It brings me great joy when I get thank you emails from students when I am able to share words of encouragement, personalized study tips besides what I generally announce to the class (or take the time to walk through the study tips with them one-on-one), and even sometimes individually share that I have had struggles in the past and still do at times and remind them that when they are struggling, to take a deep breath, be kind and patient with themselves – they can do it!  That helps them feel like they are not alone.  And guess what, you are not out there alone as a teacher either - LaMsMATYC is a great resource of ideas and support!

I find LaMsMATYC to be a warm and welcoming organization that provides me the opportunity for professional development, learning what is working (and not working) for other teachers/schools that are also teaching beginning math courses in higher education, like me, and a place for networking.  We are big enough to get a great diversity of ideas, but small enough that nobody gets lost in the crowd.  I hope that you get involved, not only by attending future conferences, but by also sharing your wisdom and experiences in a presentation and/or sharing your skills as an officer in a safe, low-pressure setting. 

I am honored to serve as president of LaMsMATYC again this year.  I look forward to seeing you at our next conference.  If you have any questions or ideas of how to make LaMsMATYC even better than it already is, please feel free to contact me at ghernand@lsue.edu.

 
Gloria Parrino

2025-2026 LaMsMATYC President
2009-2010 LaMsMATYC President

Instructor of Mathematics at LSU Eunice