PLAINVIEW — The role of math teacher is not just a job for Libby Cleveland. It’s a calling.
And for more than 30 years, Cleveland has impacted students in her elementary and intermediate math courses at Wayland Baptist University with her passion, encouragement, and unique methods of teaching a class that often baffles many students.
Cleveland will be honored Feb. 9 with the Joe and Freda Provence Distinguished Lifetime Service Award during the Blue and Gold Awards Banquet. The dinner, which is set for 6 p.m. is part of Wayland’s 2024 Homecoming weekend celebration.
An assistant professor in the Kenneth L. Mattox School of Mathematics and Sciences, Cleveland’s journey to her university teaching role includes a 30-plus year career in teaching in Dimmitt public schools. In 1962, she moved to Dimmitt when her husband Kenneth become a basketball coach there. She taught middle school before moving to Dimmitt High School for a stint teaching English and Latin. She returned to math roles at the high school and continued there until retiring in 1994. Along the way, she taught swimming every summer at Country Club of Dimmitt.
It was while visiting her son, Kevin, that Cleveland embarked on her career at Wayland. Her son, who earned a master’s degree at Wayland in 1993, coached the Pioneers men’s basketball team. While she and her son were eating at a restaurant, Dr. Jim Todd, then chair of the School of Education, approach them.
“He asked Kevin if he would teach a math class for him and he said he couldn’t,” Cleveland recalled. “I just raised my hand and said, ‘I can.’ That was my interview, I guess. I started that next Monday teaching developmental math as an adjunct professor.”
A few years later, Cleveland was hired full-time to work in the Academic Achievement area. Then, when the university reorganized a few years ago, she became part of the Math and Sciences faculty. She’s also spent five summers in Alaska teaching at Wayland’s campus there and one summer teaching in Kenya.
“I have loved the students. I just love the fact that when they come to me they have a poor background from high school and may have been labeled not top students since their grades don’t reflect that. But I tell them they are going to learn algebra,” she says with a characteristic vigor that has marked her classes for decades. “To me, it’s not so much teaching math but learning how to think and reason. I don’t tell them how to work a problem, I ask them what to do first, then next. They are so amazed that they can do it.”
Cleveland said the measure of confidence and encouragement she provides for students is probably the most important thing she can give them. From there, math becomes much easier. And it’s often the first breakthrough that helps them continue to succeed in college coursework and eventually earn their degree.
A widow since 1993, Cleveland has three children – Beth, Vickie, and Kevin – six grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Her longtime furry friend, a dog named Lucy, often accompanies her to class.
Tickets for the Blue and Gold Awards Banquet can be purchased for $15 before Feb. 1 by calling Wayland’s Office of Alumni Relations at 806-291-3600.
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