As people get older, their career aspirations sometimes change. They might decide that they want to explore a new field, go back to school, or pursue something entirely different. That’s exactly what happened to Victor Howarah, an adjunct professor in the Mathematics Department at Sinclair, when he decided to retire early and begin working in higher education.
Howarah has been at Sinclair for a decade now and has spent his time teaching developmental, business and healthcare math. And while being an adjunct does mean that he does not have as heavy of a workload as full-time professors, it does not keep him from still feeling like a teacher, he told the Clarion during an interview.
While the pandemic hindered many, the pandemic did allow Howarah to become “more flexible” with his students and make himself available to them as often as possible. These days he has included Zoom and even text messaging to the list of ways students can get in touch if they need help.
Howarah instructs a few times a week but often uses his off days to prepare. Many of his course outlines are prewritten and have been used previously, so much of the work is reviewing and tweaking as needed. He also likes to build in time for current events and college announcements into the schedule.
When it comes to teaching and the difficulties that come with it, Howarah stated that “there’s gonna be peaks and valleys.”
The instructor said that while he feels experienced with his courses at this point, there was a time where he was not so confident. Culinary math posed a challenge, he said, because it was something new to him. While the math concepts did not bother him, he had to familiarize himself with the material, which took a lot of work. For the first time in a while, he was encountering something he had not been through before.
When he is not teaching, Howarah enjoys reading and vacationing. Family is extremely important to him and being an adjunct allows him to spend more time with his loved ones.
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be teaching,” he said when asked about his future as a professor, though he mentioned the possibility for business classes.
Howarah is one of the many Sinclair adjuncts that dedicate time to serving students in our community, and we hope that each piece in the “Awesome Adjuncts” paints readers a picture of these individuals.
Thank you, Mr. Howarah, for your time – both in interviewing for this article and for your contributions to Sinclair’s mission!
Carly Webster
Staff Writer