Mat-Su College professor receives national teaching honor

WASILLA – The odds of a professor at Mat-Su College being chosen for a national teacher’s award ahead of educators at thousands of larger community colleges in the country seem slim – until you meet Dr. Ping-Tung “P.T.” Chang and realize all he’s done for math students and other teachers over the last 40 years.

Chang, who successfully passes on basic math concepts to frustrated learners by connecting them to real-world situations, was honored last week in Washington, D.C., with the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year award.

And he was only one of four in the nation to win the prize. The other three were representing outstanding undergraduate instructors at universities and four-year colleges elsewhere.

Carnegie’s Council for Advancement and Support of Education also recognized Chang in 2009 when he was named Alaska’s Professor of the Year. Such regional awards are given to educators in each state, but the national award recognizes the best of the best, Mat-Su College officials said.

For former students like Matt Maresh, his sister Britany and their mother Mary, the prize is a no-brainer.

“Oh, P.T. I love P.T.,” Mary Maresh said when reached at home Tuesday. “I found myself unexpectedly single with five kids 10 years ago. It was the worst possible scenario. I had no money, no job and no education, but I knew I had to go back to school if I was going to support my family. That’s real daunting when you’re in your late 30s.”

Maresh said Chang was the only professor who seemed sincerely concerned with her success.

“He’d take the time to make you feel like you’re important and your life matters,” she said.

Maresh was so inspired by Chang, in fact, that she went on to become a teacher herself at a local elementary school and passed on her excitement for Chang’s classes to her children.

Her daughter, Britany, ended up becoming Chang’s office assistant and her brother, Matt, was chosen to introduce Chang at Thursday’s award ceremony in D.C. Britany ended up reading her brother’s speech, however, because he’s in the hospital recovering from surgery.

“When I started my own educational career, there was no question that I would take math from Dr. Chang,” Maresh wrote. “His education to his students and constant striving for excellence has inspired me in my own educational career and has played a large role in my decision to go into education, as well.”

Maresh went on to explain that Chang’s influence does not stop at the door of his classroom, but spreads throughout the world when he shares his methods with other educators in the U.S. and China.

He pointed out that more than half of the students taking math courses at Mat-Su College start at a level below college proficiency.

“Dr. Chang is working with teachers in the community and across the globe to help (improve) that level and to better serve struggling students who come to college hostile toward mathematics,” Maresh said.

Chang, who began teaching math in 1966 in Wisconsin and made UAA his home in 1988, said during a visit to his Snodgrass Hall classroom Wednesday that to understand his approach to mathematics, you have to understand how the discipline has changed over the years and why.

When Russia launched its Sputnik satellite in 1957, he explained, U.S. citizens and leaders felt the American education system had failed to properly teach math and science to youngsters. So a more theoretical system called “New Math” was introduced.

“Unfortunately, this system was difficult for many teachers, and parents became angry because they thought the teachers didn’t know what they were doing,” Chang said.

During the confusion and turmoil of the next decade, one particular scholar emerged in the 1970s who made all the difference for Chang.

Stanford math professor Dr. Georg Polya’s “Problem-Solving Approach” in his book “How to Solve It” became Chang’s teaching bible, of sorts. In order to get away from the traditional teaching method of “teacher talks, students listen,” Chang used Polya’s philosophy for his own “grown your own” hands-on, interactive instructional method where students debate various ways to solve problems.

“I believe it is a non-threatening, easy-to-assemble, no-anxiety teaching method,” Chang said in his acceptance speech during the awards ceremony and reiterated Wednesday.

Using a simple algebra equation as an example Wednesday, Chang showed how “X” could represent heads and “Y” could represent tails on a series of quarters, nickels and dimes. By substituting those concrete objects in the equation and making it more real to life, students could more easily understand what algebraic equations actually show, he said.

“You look at different combinations of X and Y and whether you are adding them or multiplying them and you then get an idea of the probability of a certain outcome,” he said. “That’s all it is. It’s not that scary when you break it down into parts that make sense.”

Chang explained that he further reduces math anxiety in his classes by eliminating tests as part of students’ grades. He also provides snacks and refreshments to help put students at ease and create a more social atmosphere.

Offering free one-on-one tutoring outside class also helps his students master concepts. It also explains why he typically arrives at his office at 4 a.m. and usually doesn’t leave until at least 6 p.m.

“If students do not have their basic needs met, they are unable to learn,” he explained. “I want all my students to succeed.”

Chang also devotes his spare time to engaging with students through the first on-campus Lions Club, which gives them opportunities to reach out to the community. Advising the Mat-Su College Math Club enables him to get to know his students better and to work with them to help others, such as raising funds for scholarships and providing Thanksgiving dinners to the needy this time of year.

“By offering these types of programs for students to participate in, I hope that I am giving students a reason to like school and a desire to continue,” he wrote in his “Passion for Teaching Statement” submitted to the Carnegie Foundation.

Chang said one of the most influential moments in his life occurred when a group of students founded the Dr. Ping-Tung Chang Scholarship Fund in his honor. He said he didn’t realize until that moment how much he had truly touched his students.

“I have worked tirelessly to help secure endowment status for the fund in their honor,” he said. “Now, many students are able to afford to go to college thanks in part to this scholarship.”

Chang said Wednesday he plans to continue teaching at Mat-Su College for at least another three or four years, but hopes by that time to see his three dreams become a reality. Those dreams are:

• For UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer to approve some leave time for him to take his message on the road to Alaska school districts’ schools and elsewhere so other educators and students can benefit from it.

• To be able to raise another $60,000 for his scholarship fund for a total of $100,000 so more students can attend Mat-Su College.

• To promote his “Grow Your Own Problem-Solving Approach” for any subject, not just math.

It is Chang’s over-the-top selflessness and dedication to others that makes him so special, his assistant Britany Maresh said Tuesday.

“You can’t take one of PT’s classes without getting to know him and seeing he’s the kind of person you want in your life,” she said.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.