Late Merced College mathematics professor left Los Banos students with a love of learning
December is a time for gifts, and I’d like to highlight one of the most important gifts anyone can give or receive, at any time of the year -- the love of learning.
Parents can give this love to their children starting in infancy. Good teachers can give the love of learning to students young and old, from pre-school to graduate school and beyond, in formal education or in lifelong learning experiences. Today I want to highlight one teacher in particular, Mai Meidinger, who inspired her students to learn and apply their learning to life.
Teaching these days (and learning, too) can be challenging. For much of the past two years, teachers have taught and students have learned remotely, via the computer. The special connection within a physical classroom was missing in these virtual environments. Now that many classes are again in session in a physical space, teachers and students can connect more closely and personally. Still, many students and teachers are playing catch up, trying to get back to the rhythm of in-person education and trying to make up for lost time and work.
I applaud instructors who have stayed the course of teaching during challenging times, especially those who have successfully shared their love of learning with students. Good teachers of the past, going back to Socrates and Plato, stretched students’ minds by asking challenging questions and encouraging them to seek the most significant answers.
Today the best teaching takes place in a similar way, with much searching and questioning, in a quest to find what is accurate and what is valuable. Learning like this is rewarding and lasting.
One teacher who taught this way with dynamism and joy was Mai Meidinger, a math professor at Merced College. Most of my Los Banos readers are not familiar with Mai, but college students in her classes at the Merced campus and her colleagues know exactly what I’m saying.
Mai had a passion for math, for teaching, for learning and for life itself. I knew her for ten years when we both worked at Merced College, and each time I was in her presence I felt a special energy.
She had an innate enthusiasm for math that was contagious.
Mai was also an excellent colleague. She worked collaboratively with other professors (in math and in other disciplines), as well as with administrators. She was always so congenial, so authentic, so vibrant. Merced College was blessed to have her.
Mai had an adventurous life. She was born in Cantho, South Vietnam, in 1970, and came to the United States with her parents when she was young. She earned her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton in applied mathematics with an economics emphasis. She went on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Arizona in 1998. In the fall of that same year, she was hired as full-time math professor at Merced College.
It’s unusual for Merced College to hire someone right out of graduate school to join the full-time faculty, but in her interviews and teaching demonstration it was clear she was a “natural” at teaching, with a special gift not just for teaching students, but inspiring them.
Mai was also respected by academic colleagues beyond Merced College. UC Merced recognized her talents, recruiting her to teach mathematics when she wasn’t teaching at Merced College. The statewide California Community College Chancellor’s Office asked her to review courses submitted by other colleges for acceptance into the statewide course system.
Mai also gave back to her community, serving on the board of directors for the Central Valley Opportunity Center for more than a decade. And she was an active member of the Winton Advisory Board for the High School Equivalency Program, helping seasonal farmworkers obtain GED certificates so they could advance in their education and career.
She did all this, for higher education and for her community, in a relatively short time. She died last month much too young, at age 51, after a difficult battle with cancer, leaving her husband Steve, her parents and siblings, as well as everyone else who knew her, grieving deeply.
I want to publicly express my appreciation for Mai Meidinger and for all teachers like her—from pre-school to graduate school and beyond--who devoted themselves to ensuring their students not only learn but enjoy the wonder of learning.
John Spevak wrote this for the Los Banos Enterprise. His email is john.spevak@gmail.com.
