Mary Jo Geise
Recipient of the 2009-2010
College of Sciences Faculty Chair Award

 

The Faculty Chair Award is an honor bestowed on a senior faculty member by the College of Sciences. The Faculty Chair must be tenured, have served the University of Findlay for a minimum of ten years, submitted a resume of accomplishments in teaching, scholarship and service, and sketched a plan or theme for engaging faculty, staff, students and the community-at-large in a particular field of expertise. This year's recipient of the Faculty Chair Award is Professor Mary Jo Geise.

Mary Jo earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Secondary Education from Slippery Rock College in 1977. In 1979, she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in Mathematics, with a concentration in Applied Mathematics, and in 1985 a Master of Science degree in Computer Science with concentrations in Database Management Systems from Bowling Green State University. Currently, Mary Jo is on sabbatical and a doctoral student in Higher Education Administration and Institutional Research at BGSU, with an anticipated graduation date in 2010.

After teaching in the public school system for several years, Mary Jo joined the University faculty in 1982, as an instructor of mathematics in the Division of Natural Sciences. A year later she accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of  Mathematics and Computer Science in the College of Sciences during which time she also served as contract instructor for Owens Technical College, Findlay campus, and Findlay City Schools. For many years she supervised student lab assistants for open computer labs, conducted system administration functions, and performed database programming for Academic and Administrative Computer Services. She earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 1989.

In 2004, Mary Jo was appointed Dean of the College of Sciences. Her accomplishments included growth in the student population, planning and addition of several new lab areas, addition of new majors and several new faculty members, accreditation of the environmental safety, and occupational health management graduate program, addition of a successful College of Sciences seminar series, and establishment of the Faculty Chair program to which she now has the honor of participating. Among her many other honors, Mary Jo is a member of Who's Who Among Students in Colleges and Universities, Kappa Delta Pi Education Honorary, and a Magna Cum Laude Graduate. She is active in several institutes for data policy and applied statistics, has completed several college level courses and workshops in areas of networking, computer systems, and web technologies, and has given presentations in areas of computer competency, online course delivery and educational technology. In 2007 she was awarded a three-year Fellowship for Graduate Studies by the Association of Institutional Research. She is a member of six national or international professional organizations for mathematics and computer sciences.

Mary Jo's community service involves considerable operational and technological input for local area swim programs. She and her husband Tony support the Flag City Invitational, which brings 500 swimmers to Findlay each June.