Hometown Living At Its Best 49
the Graduate Program Director for the master’s program
in Mathematical Sciences. Dr. Hu had just learned of
Inna’s G.R.E. math scores, which were on a genius level.
“He wanted to recruit me for his department. I told him
my English was not good enough. I should study English
first. He said, ‘You don’t need English to teach math.”
She laughed. “Dr. Hu was from China, and although he
could write it okay, he could not speak very good English
either.”
The only problem with this change was that Inna
would have to pay tuition. Dr. Hu was so determined
to have this mathematical genius on his staff, he hired
her as a student assistant in the math lab, which helped
pay off a student loan. In 2003, Inna finished her thesis
while teaching her first college algebra class at Georgia
Southern University.
Two years later, I was her student, a forty-threeyear
old mother of four going to college for the first
time. My admission test scores on the math section
were not genius. In fact, my test scores resulted in two
semesters of “pre-algebra” before they would even let
me in the door of a college algebra class. But I was the
kind of student Inna was there to save. During those
three years she had worked in the math lab, Inna
concluded that most students, especially girls, perceived
math as a subject they inherently could not do well. “It
was different for me when I was growing up. Everyone
liked math. I realized that this belief in America was
a mentality.” Inna made it her mission to shift the
perception from “loving or hating math” to “loving to
learn,” regardless of the subject. “Then you will see
success,” said Inna.
This past spring,
Inna retired from
Georgia Southern
University and took a
position at Brewton-
Parker College
in the division of
Mathematics and
Natural Sciences
Department.