Greetings! I am Emily Woods, newest addition to the SMCC mathematics department full-time faculty.

I grew up traveling around the world and country in a US Air Force family. Ever since I was in the 8th grade, I have wanted to be a math teacher. I liked math in school, and my parents encouraged a career in education. Not so many girls were “into” math in those days, and I enjoyed the challenge of showing the boys (my older brother included) that I could do math as well as they could!

I earned a BA in mathematics from a small, liberal arts college in southwestern Missouri, but I attended Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan for three semesters of my undergraduate coursework. Later I taught one year at a high school before staying home with my two daughters for ten years. During the time I was a stay-at-home mom, I taught private voice lessons in my home as well as tutoring college math and music theory students from the local college. (I still love singing, playing the piano, and music in general!)

After I went back to work teaching math full time, I started to graduate school and earned an MA and PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from New Mexico State University. In addition to 9 years of high school teaching, my teaching career includes 14 years full time in mathematics departments at Dona Ana Branch Community College and New Mexico State University, both in Las Cruces, New Mexico and Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington. In my teaching, I particularly enjoy helping people who feel overwhelmed by math. Helping people achieve their dreams and watching students develop skill, grow in confidence, and overcome fears are the great rewards of being a teacher!

I am thrilled to be living in Maine and very happy about joining the SMCC family. I love walking, and I find great peace and tranquility walking along the beach and looking out to the sea. I am convinced my Scottish ancestors must have been sea-coast dwellers!