Towanna Roller
Associate professor
Dr. Towanna A. Roller
Academic Background
I graduated from Asbury College in 1983 with a double major in mathematics and mathematics education. In 1985, I received a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics from Southern Methodist University. My Ph. D. is in Mathematical Science and my dissertation is in a branch of mathematics called Compartmental Analysis.
Academic Interests
My main area now is mathematics education and I teach many of the courses for high school math teachers including math history, geometry, algebraic structures and topics. Additionally, I teach all the math courses for elementary teachers and the graduate math course for special education teachers. The learning process fascinates me. I am very interested in mathematics education from preschool through college. I often organize small groups of home-school kids or high school teens to participate in math programs that either I or my college students teach. There are many courses that I teach once every two years or so. These include Abstract Algebra I and II, Logic and Sets, Calculus, Business Calculus, and a few others.
Family
In the fall talent show of 1982 in Asbury’s gym, Jon Roller proposed to me while standing on a basketball and juggling eggs over my head. Now we have two daughters who are home-schooled but who also take classes at the local public schools. Michelle, our oldest, is a very social, adventure-loving, movie-watching, spontaneous teen who loves to travel. She wants to be with real people all over the world and doesn’t particularly like the sheltered tourist style. So far she has been to 18 countries.
Bethany, however, prefers McDonald’s chicken nuggets to river rat. She also prefers air-conditioned hotels or very cold countries to the warmth of either Malawian village huts or jungle tree houses. Bethany plays violin and enjoys logic and spatial reasoning puzzles. She is very good at math.
Other Interests
As a home-school parent, I have an excuse to enjoy every school subject and call it work. I like science, philosophy, history, geography, literature, and art. Because one of my favorite subjects is Old Testament history, I try to attend forums sponsored by Asbury’s Bible Department as often as possible. I audited our old testament survey course here at Asbury last semester and loved it.