Reprinted from Faculty Newsletter 2013
Phyllis has been teaching all levels of math through calculus with Ivy Tech for 26 years. Some of her courses have included: Fundamentals of Algebra I & II, Essentials of Algebra I & II, Mathematics Principles with Algebra, Concepts in Mathematics, College Algebra, and Trigonometry with Analytic Geometry.
Phyllis is a passionate educator and community advocate who believes strongly in the value of education and that education should be accessible. In addition to donating to the Ivy Tech Foundation, she also started a Phyllis L. Wiegmann Scholarship. She supports church members, family members, and former students in completing their Certified Nursing Aide credential and improving their work skills. Each year she provides every school-age person at her church a backpack and school supplies, and she has given away more calculators to students who cannot afford them than she can count!
“I believe history, relevance, and service are three key components for math students. Knowing how math was developed, why, and what inspired mathematicians gives that sense of history. Doing projects that incorporate mathematics into real-world data processing and investigation is important. Community service plays a critical role in students’ taking what they have learned in mathematics and sharing it with others. It reinforces what they know and allows them to give back.”
Doing projects that incorporate mathematics into real-world data processing and investigation is important.
While Phyllis has been a teacher for most of her career, she also has experience as a set designer, she worked at Interlochen National Music Camp in junior drama for five summers, she was as an AutoCAD drafter for MagnaTech for a year, and she held an SPHR Senior Professional in Human Resources certification for 9 years.
Phyllis has a lot of personal interests and hobbies in and around Fort Wayne including motorcycle riding, ziplining, playing the guitar and singing in her church praise team, puzzle building (especially 3D puzzles), Komet hockey (Fort Wayne team), watching Colts games, enjoying the outdoors and biking parts of the River Greenway. She loves reading classic mysteries, and in the last two years she has read the complete Sherlock Holmes collection by Arthur Conan Doyle. She also has series season tickets to Embassy Broadway, a historic theater in Fort Wayne with award-winning productions throughout the season.
