Section 7.6 Profile: Marvin Linus Brubaker
Marvin L. Brubaker was born in rural Snyder County in Central Pennsylvania. He attended public schools and then enrolled at Susquehanna University (located in Selinsgrove, PA), where he received an A.B. (cum laude) in 1961. He carried a double major in both physics and mathematics.
After a year of teaching mathematics and science at Middleburg High School, Brubaker enrolled in the graduate program at Bowling Green University. He taught physics labs and problem sessions while completing requirements for his M.A. in mathematics in 1964. This was followed by a three-year appointment as instructor in mathematics at his alma mater, Susquehanna, 1964-1967. He then accepted an assistant professorship at Moravian College. This move to the Lehigh Valley made it particularly convenient to begin work toward his doctorate at Lehigh University. In spite of teaching full-time all the while, Brubaker earned his Ph.D. in October 1973 for a dissertation titled, “A comparison of the Shukla cohomology with a cotriple cohomology”, and written under Franklin Brenneman.
Brubaker remained at Moravian for 16 years, serving as chair of the mathematics department the last nine years. In 1983 he moved to Messiah College, where he has remained ever since. During his tenure at Messiah he has been actively involved in faculty development and the process of introducing technology into the classroom. In addition, he has directed more than 120 secondary mathematics student teachers and has been actively involved in offering technology workshops locally, regionally, and nationally. (He has presented workshops on Derive in 14 states and two provinces!) He has also spent a considerable amount of time coaching students for presentations at EPADEL meetings and at the Moravian College Student Paper Conference.
To accomplish his goal of introducing technology, Brubaker organized and directed three one-week faculty development workshops at Moravian College and followed up with more than 18 similar workshops at Messiah College from 1986 to the present time. Several workshops received NSF support. Since many of them were sponsored by EPADEL, they stand as perhaps his most visible contribution to the section.
But workshops represent only a portion of Brubaker’s volunteer activities with the section. He was elected president for two one-year terms, 1987-1989, after being vice-president for two one-year terms. Not surprisingly he has also served as workshop coordinator for the section, holding that position from 1985 to the present. In addition, he was elected sectional Governor for a three-year term, 1992-1995.
In appreciation for all these volunteer activities, in January 1996 Brubaker was the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service for the EPADEL Section, an award given by the national MAA. In addition, he served as a member of Mini Course Committee of the MAA from 1992 to 1998. He has also been an active participant with the MAA’s interactive mathematics text project.
