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Mathmatics professor at Messiah College retires after 21 years of teaching

	Marvin Brubaker Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (May 20, 2005) — Selinsgrove High School graduate Marvin Brubaker, Ph.D., is leaving Messiah College after 21 years of dedicated service to students and faculty. As professor of mathematics, Brubaker has won several prestigious awards, including the “Mathematics Association of America Service Award” in 1995, the “Dr. Robert & Marilyn Smith Teacher of the Year Award” from Messiah College in 2003 and the “James Crawford Outstanding Teacher Award” of the Mathematics Association of America in 2004.

“Dr. Brubaker has been one of our outstanding teachers of mathematics here,” said Barry DeRoos, the department chair of mathematics. “He recruits many students to our department and he cares a great deal about the students and their learning. He even gives them wake up calls if they’ve missed his morning class and has met with students over breakfast. I think we will miss him in our department a great deal.”

A Selinsgrove native, Brubaker graduated from Selinsgrove High School in 1957, then studied physics and mathematics at Susquehanna University, finishing with a cum laude standing. After college, Brubaker taught math at Middleburg High School and earned his Master of Arts degree from Bowling Green in 1964. He returned to Susquehanna University to instruct math before teaching at Moravian College, where he eventually served as the department chair. In 1973, he earned a doctorate degree from Lehigh University in homological algebra, before making his way to Messiah College in 1983.

“He not only taught his students, he also taught us as a faculty,” said colleague Gene Chase, professor of mathematics and computer science. “He was a firm believer in getting students actively involved and encourages us to do the same.”

One way in which Brubaker involved his pupils in their education was by taking vanloads of students to the University of Delaware to learn about graduate studies. He has also produced and hosted more than 18 workshops and acted as Messiah College’s discipline coordinator for mathematics.

In his retirement, Brubaker plans to spend time with his five grandchildren, who live in Shiremanstown with daughter Margaret Schwenk, and in Philadelphia with daughter Marlene Brubaker. Brubaker and his wife, Barbara Brubaker, also have a son in Colorado. Brubaker’s mother, Mary Brubaker, still resides in Selinsgrove.

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,900 undergraduate students in 50 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.

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ARTICLE DATE: FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2005
ARTICLE NUMBER: MC-074-05