Assistant Dean Betty Berbari has been at SUNY Old Westbury since 2015 with a full time position as Director of the Math Design Lab. In 2022, she was asked to take on the Assistant Dean role for the School Of Arts and Sciences and has been in that position ever since.
”I’ve been at SUNY Old Westbury since 2015 in a full time position as a director of the math design lab” she said. Math being her field of study, it makes sense that she’s both in and out of the office and classroom. Dean Berbari makes a difference in the classroom by helping students make real connections with mathematics with her “Math in…” campus events showcasing how much mathematics is involved in our everyday lives,events include; Math in Baking, Crocheting, CPR, etc.
Professor Berbari states that although the roles are vastly different here is some overlap with the way she teaches her lecture, and is able to connect with both faculty and the student body. “ I think the roles overlap because my position as Assistant Dean is student facing, and I help a lot of students with issues and with their success,” Berbari continues. “As a professor for my quantitative decision making class, that’s the same thing. I try to help my students be successful and make a connection between math and everyday life.”
Dean Berbari has real world problems within every lesson; utilizing interest and insurance rates help students manage their adult lives. This helps them make real connections with the curriculum and apply it to their day-to-day lives. She not only wants to teach lectures but make sure that her students are getting something out of it that they can take with them out into the real world.
Berbari has changed the lives of several students. One moment that stands out to her in the almost 10 years she’s been at the university is “when a student that had come to me with multiple challenges, that did not think they would be able to finish college and then they did,” she continues. “To see them at commencement and to come to me and hug me and thank me. I was so proud, so proud of them. So I think it’s those moments that really stand out for me the most, when you see a student come full circle and is able to enter the next chapter of their life in a good place is very very meaningful.”
Seeing her students succeed is her driving force in being a professor. Her connection to her students is what makes her a good professor and dean to her students and faculty.