Jodi Dawson values getting to know her students beyond coursework.
“GRCC students are hard working; oftentimes trying to juggle a job, family and school,” Dawson said. “I appreciate getting to know what my students' goals are and how I can help them achieve them. Math is my passion, the environment created at GRCC allows me to not only teach math but also to get to know how I can help them apply math in real world situations.”
Dawson is also proud to work with a team of faculty members and tutorial lab staff that seeks to help all students at the level they’re at.
“Our free tutoring lab is wonderful, they are patient and helpful,” Dawson said. GRCC students can access the math lab in person, in room 100 & 105 Cook Academic Hall, or through Blackboard.
Her department's goal, and one she supports wholeheartedly, is to help students reach their personal and academic goals – which is not always straight As.
“One thing that I have learned is that while grades are important, we are not ‘defined’ by our grades,” Dawson said. “Yes, I think all students should strive to do their best, but there are for sure other qualities of success as well. To me – and many future employers – integrity, hard work, effort and knowing where to look for solutions, is more important than the letter grade you got in algebra.”
Dawson has wanted to be a math teacher since middle school.
“I consider it pure joy that I get to work in a career I love,” she said. “When you love what you do it doesn't even seem like a job.”
Dawson typically teaches MA 97 Pre-Algebra, MA 98 Elementary Algebra, MA 107 Intermediate Algebra, MA 110 College Algebra courses.
Dawson earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education: Mathematics from Dordt University, and her Masters Degree in General Education from Grand Valley State University.
