They add up: Math education colleagues have right formula

It had to be chance or the alignment of the stars. Something unforeseen or perhaps magical.

The unintended introduction and multi-year courtship of Gary Martin and Marilyn Strutchens seemed so unlikely, who could have foreseen it leading to a marriage going on almost 29 years?

Well, it could be argued that one person knew it from the start: Martin.

Even after all these years together, including nearly 25 as faculty colleagues in Auburn University’s College of Education, Martin is still in awe of Strutchens.

He said “birds were flying” when they first met. You know that romantic feeling of wow and amazement that makes the heart go pitter-patter?

Where two lines intersect

So, how does a woman from the small town of Eastman, Georgia, who attended the University of Georgia (UGA) to study fashion merchandising, cross paths and eventually marry a man from an even smaller town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who has loved math since the seventh grade? This is how:

Back in high school, Strutchens loved math and fashion merchandising — she had her own fashion show once. After graduating from UGA, she worked in the fashion industry as an assistant buyer. While the role seemed ideal as it involved both interests, Strutchens realized tutoring students in math at church brought her the most joy. So, she returned to UGA to study math education.

Their lines intersected — that’s a math pun — the year Martin returned to UGA, his alma mater, to speak to math education students and faculty. This is when the world stood still for Martin, but Strutchens? Not so much.

Sure, she admired him as a fan of his research, but she wasn’t interested in dating anyone. No offense to Martin; she was focused on her studies.

Yet, he stayed committed. No amount of time or distance could change that.

Once Strutchens finished her doctorate and began working in academia, she would see Martin and other colleagues at meetings for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

“We just sort of, coincidentally, often ended up sitting beside each other at these things,” Martin said.

The year NCTM met in Boston, a still-smitten Martin asked Strutchens out to dinner.

“I was thinking about it as colleagues going out to dinner, but he…,” Strutchens starts.

“Had a different perspective,” Martin said, completing her explanation.

For years, Martin continued his chase via telephone. Strutchens maintained they were nothing more than colleagues, but eventually, the calls became a way to get to know each other beyond their shared work.

If any sort of relationship was forming, though, it was challenged — geographically. Martin was working at the University of Hawai’i, while Strutchens was at the University of Kentucky.

“Yeah, it’s a little far apart,” Martin said.

Strangely, it worked for them.

“I’m an early-to-bed kind of a person, and she is a waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-work person,” Martin said. “With the time difference, her 2 a.m. was 8 p.m. for me, so it worked.”

He jokes — it’s “a little bit more of a struggle now” — that they are in the same time zone.

Balancing the equation

After the two married in 1996, Martin left Hawai’i for the East Coast where Strutchens was on faculty at the University of Maryland. He got a job with NCTM in Northern Virginia and commuted back and forth.

Both enjoyed the work they were doing, so neither was looking to move. However, when a mutual colleague mentioned the possibility of two open positions in math education at Auburn, they were intrigued.

For Martin and Strutchens, Auburn solved the “oft-quoted two-body problem,” a challenge often faced by dual-career couples in academia who seek faculty positions at the same institution.

“You have to end up with two positions at the right place at the right time,” Martin said. “We are in the same field, in the exact same field, so it was just fortuitous that it worked out for us.”

The fall of 2000 marked the first time the couple worked together. Their offices in Haley Center are next to each other and will be again in the new College of Education building. They teach different classes and conduct different research, but they collaborate on projects and articles.

“We don’t disagree on much,” Martin said. “Our foundation is very consistent, but our interests are a little different, which is what makes things work.”

Martin’s research focus is curriculum and standards development, while Strutchens addresses equity and multicultural issues in mathematics education.

Nonetheless, “we both really believe in teacher improvement and working toward ensuring that each and every student learns mathematics well,” she said.