Countywide : OCC Math Professor Is Teacher of Year

Sandra Savage, a mathematics professor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, has been named Orange County’s 1994 Community College Teacher of the Year.

She received the award and an accompanying $15,000 check during a ceremony Saturday. The annual competition is sponsored by the Orange County Department of Education. Seven community college teachers were nominated for the award this year.

Savage, who has been a teacher for 31 years, was nominated for the award by the Orange Coast Academic Senate. Last spring, Savage was one of 50 community college instructors nationwide to be designated a “master teacher” by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development.

A native of Charleston, W.Va., Savage holds a doctorate in mathematics education from Columbia University in New York. She has been a member of Orange Coast’s faculty for 13 years.

“My goal is to awaken in students an interest in the art of mathematics by opening their minds to a mathematical world of ideas that fascinate, intrigue, challenge and satisfy,” Savage said.

“Student response to this approach has been very positive. I’m extremely fortunate to have chosen a profession that’s so personally rewarding and a professional environment that’s so supportive of my work,” she said.