Kunkle retires after 31 years of teaching math
May 25, 2007
KOKOMO, Ind.—Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Marie Kunkle, M.A.T., has retired from Indiana University Kokomo effective at the end of May. Kunkle taught as an adjunct faculty member from 1976–1987, and has been a full-time faculty member for the past 20 years.
“I have enjoyed teaching all the classes I have,” she said. “But the elementary education classes have been special. It has been a challenge, not only to teach those students the math they need to know, but also to develop their appreciation and enjoyment of mathematics. Students have come back and told me they learned HOW to teach by being in my class.”
Kunkle started teaching the Mathematics for Elementary Teachers sequence in the fall of 1978 and taught it almost every semester since then. “It was a three-semester sequence when we first started, taught in both day and evening sessions,” she said. Kunkle oversaw curricular changes when the sequence moved from a three-semester course to two semesters, and is proud of the fact that the changes involved no reduction in sequence content.
Kunkle served on several campus committees, including Arts and Sciences Readmission, Assessment (2001), Library Advisory, Supplemental Instruction, and the initial faculty panel that developed the freshmen orientation program in 1997–1999. One of her most significant accomplishments, Kunkle said, was serving on the committee that organized the Learning Enhancement Center. Headquarters for placement testing and ongoing tutoring in math and English, “The Center has made meaningful contributions to the retention of students,” she said.
Kunkle is a four-time winner of the Amicus Award. Each year, IU Kokomo students present the Amicus to a favorite adjunct and a favorite full-time faculty member. “I think students will remember that I cared about them and came to class prepared to teach,” Kunkle said. “Students who have failed my class have arranged their schedules to take the same course from me the next semester. They’ve told me they understood me, and, if they had done what I told them to do the first time, they wouldn’t have had to repeat it. I try to be user friendly.
“Many years ago, I used a poem at my aunt’s retirement about how a teacher is a builder of souls. If you treat people with respect, you can help them have a healthy self-concept.”
Kunkle taught junior high math for 10 years before coming to IU Kokomo. In the 1980s and ’90s, she taught Base 4Math Unit to Kokomo Center fifth graders. She has also served area education by her involvement in textbook reviews, plans for an after-school math club, and mentoring of teachers, tutors, and a student academic team.
She was a longtime proctor for the Indiana State Math competition, and wrote questions for the Junior High Division of the State Academic competition.
