November 12, 1998
Profile
Lee shares his love of math with students
Michelle Cater
The Pendulum
The number of math ma
jors at Elon is growing and the
department is recognized as one
of the best math departments in
the state, as Dr. Todd Lee, assis
tant professor of mathematics, is
quick to point out.
“Some of the greatest, big
league, unknown stuff at Elon is
going on in this department,” he
says, as he begins to talk about
the success and projects of his
students and co-workers.
“I like the fact that no one
knows how awesome we are.”
Lee, who has been a full
time professor at Elon for four
years, didn ’ t arrive at Elon out of
the blue. Lee is originally from
Burlington and even graduated
from Cummings High School.
“I used to love going to
Elon football games, but I never
thought I’d be a professor here,”
he said.
Lee got his undergraduate
degree at Guilford College and
then traveled to Texas Tech
where he got his master’s de
gree and doctorate.
After getting his Ph.D. “I
actually just got a plane ticket
and ended up at the door,” of
Elon he said. As it turned out,
when Lee arrived back it town,
Elon had a one semester, full
time position open. Lee has been
with the college ever since.
Math is Lee’s real pas
sion. His office, located on the
third floor of Whitley, is filled
with complex drawings of math
equations and posters of smiley
faces. Even the smiley faces are
math related, however.
“People have a real pho
bia about mathematics,” Lee ex
plained. “They don’t understand
what mathematicians do. They
are intimidated and afraid... So
when they come into the office I
try to change that.”
Math encompasses almost
every part of Lee’s life. He is the
faculty adviser for the Elon Col
lege group of the Math Associa
tion of America. He spends part
of his summer teaching math at
North Carolina Governor’s
School (an opportunity for the
state’s top high school students
to take college level classes). He
even spends his free time read
ing books about mathematics.
He also likes giving talks
and lectures and attending con
ferences on mathematics related
subjects.
While math encompasses
most of Lee’s life, he does real
ize there is more to life than
numbers. He enjoys attending
concerts — the last concert he
attended was the Aerosmith con
cert and he will be attending the
Dave Matthews Band concert
when they come to town.
Lee also said he watches a
lot of TV, while he mostly
watches documentaries, he con
fessed to watching professional
wrestling.
“It’s really cheesy. But we
can’t get trapped into looking at
life too seriously,” he said about
the sport,
Lee said he also watches
“South Park.”
“It’s sick, but I can’t help
but laugh and laugh,” he said
about the cartoon.
Emily MacDonnell/r/?e Pendulum
Math professor Todd Lee prepares for another day of class.
4- CAREER DIRECTIONS 4^
ELON CAREER CENTOR-313 E. Haggard Avenue ♦ 584-2538 ♦ Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
www.elon.edu/careers ^
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(Come by the Career Center for
details and to leave resume)
Xou Are WbomcI
If you think you missed your chauice to
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