An Interview with Linda Barbu
Chris Koppenhofer

      Let's get this straight: Linda Barbu loves her job. This is not surprising to people who have worked with her, because her dedication to her job is evident in all that she does.

      It is interesting to note that Linda teaches calculus at Wooster, after having learned it at Wooster --- after graduating from Finley College, Linda got a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Wooster in 1975. While Linda was a student here, she was in a class that had a job candidate for a faculty position as a guest lecturer --- Charles Hampton! After teaching math in high school and at the Agricultural Technical Institute for 14 years, Linda began working at The College of Wooster and has been here for the last 12 years.

      Here at Wooster, Linda is the coordinator of the Math Center as well as a tutor. The Math Center is a very popular place among students. As many as 20--50 students appear there every day for help. While Linda helps many students herself, a large number also receive mathematical first aid from the many student tutors who staff the Center in the evenings.

      Besides running the Math Center, she also teaches a class every semester. Linda shows full devotion to her class. She tries to run the class in ways that are most useful to the students, but not necessarily easiest for herself. For instance, before she assigns any homework, she works though every problem to make sure the assignment isn't excessive in length. She feels that, teaching only one class, she has sufficient time to take that extra step.

      There are other responsibilities in an average day for this math-o-phile. For the last 7 years she has played a large role in the organization of SMAAC's annual high school math contest. She also does odd jobs for the department chairman when necessary.

      Linda Barbu is the perfect person for her job. She loves what she does and takes pride in it. Not only does she love it, but she also knows what she is doing. And she had better; after not using calculus since she was a student herself, she relearned calculus in order to run the math center!