 "Photo: Yelena Kisler")
 "Photo: Yelena Kisler")
 "Photo: Yelena Kisler")
Two locations, 21 tutors, 59 hours per week plus $4,600 of new funds equals a new future for HSU’s math tutoring lab. The math lab, located in the Behavioral & Social Science building (BSS) room 302, will be open nearly 40 hours per week. The math lab will now also be open in the evenings in library room 208.
The transformation did not occur overnight; rather it had been the ambition of Stuart Moskowitz since he took over as director of the math lab three semesters ago. In the past the math lab was available to students roughly 15 to 20 hours a week with what seemed to be never enough tutors, let alone time. “We would just get swamped,” said Tyler Belarde, a first year grad student at HSU and tutor at the math lab for two years. Funding simply wasn’t there. Historically, the collaborative effort of the Math Department and Carmen Colunga, Coordinator of the Tutorial Center, is what financially supported the math lab.
Realizing that the range of students coming in for help reached far beyond the Math Department, Moskowitz began to lobby for more money to improve the math lab. “We are helping not just math students,” said Moskowitz in regards to the number of students coming into the math lab. When President Rollin Richmond attended a Math Department meeting in Fall 2009, Moskowitz was clear in his intentions for the future of the math lab: more tutors, more hours, more availability.
Just months later the math lab has successfully achieved this goal. The essence of this accomplishment was irrefutably the additional funds of $4,600. The money was distributed from a lottery fund. Contrary to base funds, which are state approved funds, lottery funds are often referred to as “one time only funds” as the money is fleeting and fluctuates from year to year. This year Humboldt State was allotted a total of $854,000 in lottery funds. According to an email from HSU’s Budget Office, the money is distributed into five general categories: Pre-doctoral program $5,000, Access and Academic Development $63,779, Teacher Recruitment $72,240, Future Scholars $30,000 and General Initiatives $682,981.
“There are many things that are important on this campus,” said President Richmond. When asked why the math lab was allotted additional funding in a time of such dire budget issues he said, “The importance of mathematics is in everybody’s lives.” President Richmond explained that lottery funds are intended to enhance the basic educational opportunities at HSU. Upon discussing other possible uses for the lottery funds President Richmond spoke of working with the Art Department in creating a database with digitally-available photographs of artwork. He also expressed an interest in creating a Native American mentoring program, in an effort to improve the dropout rate among Native Americans.
Even within the first month of school the math lab has received a warm welcome. Belarde, who said he will continue to tutor as long as he is a grad student, said that even the late night library hours have been busy. “I don’t think as many people would make the trek,” said Belarde in reference to the convenience of the library’s location. Moskowitz found a central location that is already frequented by students so students would not be discouraged by a long walk across campus to the BSS building late at night,
True to its origin, the availability of the math lab may be as short-lived as the funding that is currently supporting it. At the moment Randi Darnall Burke, Dean of Students, is working with Mosowitz and the Math Department to incorporate the additional money into our base funds. Until then, if you are struggling with any math equation, don’t hesitate to make use of the tutors available to you at the math lab.
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