FACULTY PROFILE
Dan Ilaria
Daniel Ilaria Knows How Success Adds Up in Math Classes
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ver since he was a high school junior in Old Bridge, NJ, Daniel Ilaria has been intrigued by mathematics and how to best teach it. Credit his math teacher that year, Don Groninger, who ultimately became Ilaria’s mentor. At Groninger’s suggestion, he returned to his former high school during his senior year at Drew University (NJ) to study the effectiveness of new technologies to tutor math students. “It was great,” recalls the WCU associate professor of mathematics education. “Compared to another internship I had done in actuarial sciences, it was a lot more fun interacting every day with students in the classroom.” For 12 years, he then worked—first as a middle and high school math teacher, then as a mathematics teaching supervisor—in five New Jersey public school districts, including Old Bridge. Over that time, he also earned two master’s degrees (in math education and math) and a Ph.D. in math education, all from Rutgers University. He became a supervisor to have a greater impact outside his classroom. “I was lucky enough to have taught both AP classes and students who struggled with mathematics. Ever since, I am always thinking about how we can help all students enjoy math more and be successful at it.”
10 WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY
He particularly liked hiring new teachers and mentoring them, just as Groninger had mentored him. It was a natural transition, then, when he first began teaching math education at WCU nine years ago. As the B.S. in math education coordinator, his responsibilities include teaching pedagogy classes and supervising student teacher candidates. He also directs WCU’s new Woodrow Wilson STEM Teaching Fellowship program. Over the next two years, the program will train and certify 36 B.S. graduates in math, biology, chemistry, and physics to teach in underserved urban schools. Says Ilaria, who also is a T3 (Teachers Teaching with Technology) national instructor regarding math education technology for Texas Instruments, “I enjoy staying connected to middle and high school classrooms by watching our candidates teach and working with and supporting practicing teachers. “It’s a great opportunity to build upon everything I learned before I came to West Chester.”
